He held the post until January 2013, when he was replaced by John (Lord) Nash.
Gove's first decision was to rename his Department: it became the Department for Education (Df E) - as it had been between 19.
David Willetts (Conservative) was appointed Minister of State for Universities and Science; Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat) headed a separate Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
'For all that we have heard from the new government about devolving power, this is actually a much more highly centralised system of control' (The Guardian 6 June 2010).
Gove claimed the country was falling behind the rest of the world in science, literacy and maths and insisted that his plan to transform England's schools would improve the education of the poorest children.
Introduction, Contents Chapter 1 600-1800 Beginnings Chapter 2 1800-1860 Towards a state system Chapter 3 1860-1900 Class divisions Chapter 4 1900-1944 Taking shape Chapter 5 1944-1951 Post-war reconstruction Chapter 6 1951-1970 The wind of change Chapter 7 1970-1979 Recession and disenchantment Chapter 8 1979-1990 Thatcherism: marketisation Chapter 9 1990-1997 John Major: more of the same Chapter 10 1997-2007 The Blair decade Chapter 11 2007-2010 Brown and Balls: mixed messages Chapter 12 2010 What future for education in England?
Chapter 13 2010-2015 Gove v The Blob this is a draft of a chapter which will form part of the revised version currently in preparation Timeline Glossary Bibliography The new administration 2010-11 Gove: a man in a hurry The schools Academies Free schools School buildings Other budget cuts Faith schools Admissions Code White Paper: The Importance of Teaching Curriculum and qualifications SATs Phonics GCSE National Curriculum Review Other matters Teachers Higher education 2011-12 Acceleration The schools Academies Free schools School buildings Other budget cuts Education Act 2011 Ofsted Other school matters Curriculum and qualifications National Curriculum Review GCSE A Level Other curriculum matters Teachers Morale General Teaching Council Pay and conditions Training Dismissal Higher education 2012-13 Growing concerns The schools Academies Free schools Faith schools School buildings School places School meals Pupil premium Curriculum and qualifications National Curriculum Review From GCSE to EBacc - and back A Level Other curriculum matters Teachers Pay and conditions, morale Teacher training and supply Higher education Other issues Scotland Sure Start Df E 2013-14 Downfall The schools Academies Free schools Faith schools School places School meals Behaviour Curriculum and qualifications Tests and league tables Special needs Early years GCSE A Level Ofsted Teachers The Blunkett Review Poverty and social mobility The Trojan Horse affair Morgan replaces Gove 2014-15 New face - same old policies The schools Academies Free schools Faith schools Education budget School places Selection Other school matters Curriculum and qualifications SATs GCSE A Level Other matters Teachers Poverty and social mobility 2015 General election Conclusions Themes Marketisation The teaching profession An outmoded view of education Inconvenient evidence Power to the centre Gove The new Tory government References copyright Derek Gillard 2016 Education in England: a brief history is my copyright.
Now, Liberal Democrats found themselves part of a government which was massively expanding academies and which was determined to reduce the role of local authorities to the point where they were 'out of the picture' altogether, according to a Whitehall source quoted in The Guardian ().
The Academies Act 2010 received the Royal Assent on 27 July.
One of the rebels, John Pugh, said: 'To change the status of a school without allowing the parents at the school a decisive voice is extraordinarily hard to justify' (The Guardian 27 July 2010).
Liberal Democrat support for the bill was surprising, given that at their spring conference in March 2009 the party had agreed an education policy document Equity and Excellence which said that a Liberal Democrat government would replace academies with sponsor-managed schools 'under the strategic oversight of local authorities and not Ministers in Whitehall' (Liberal Democrats 20).
And John Bangs, head of education at the NUT, said: 'This is astonishing: it is more centralised than anything that Labour ever considered.