Cameron unveils Tory education blueprint

Tory leader David Cameron has set out his party's plans for education.

Mr Cameron's proposals include the controversial aim of getting all children reading by the age of six.

He also spelled out his idea for a new generation of city academies which will provide tens of thousands of places for pupils in Britain's most deprived areas.

And he talked about measures to introduce setting by ability to every classroom, effectively wiping out mixed ability teaching.

The move is likely to be seen as a sop to critics in the party, still unhappy that Mr Cameron has backed away from the Tories' traditional support for grammar schools.

However Schools Minister Jim Knight said that the Conservatives had been forced to abandon a previous promise by Mr Cameron to introduce a "grammar school stream" in every school.

"David Cameron has had to accept that - just like grammar schools - grammar streaming would divide children at 11 into different classes based on a blanket and often arbitrary judgment of their ability," he said.

"Mr Cameron has had to accept that the Government's policy of encouraging headteachers to operate setting in individual subjects is the best policy."

The Conservatives said that the scheme reflected their priority for education - to "narrow the gap" between the richest and poorest.

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