Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has branded his counterpart Michael Gove as a "zealot", claiming his attempt to reform the education system has failed.

Mr Hunt criticised the "Michael Gove model, of a competitive, atomistic school landscape" in an interview with the Guardian, and put forward his alternative suggestions.

The lack of any hierarchy was criticised by Hunt, as he expounded the flaws in Gove's vision of  centralised government control from Whitehall. "You have David Laws and Michael Gove answerable for thousands of schools and nothing in between," he said, pointing to cases such as Al-Madinah in Derby and the Kings Science Academy in Bradford as consequences of this absence of middle ground.

Al-Madinah is a free school in Derby which has recently received an unfavourable Ofsted report, revealing concerns about the quality of teaching in the school and its managerial structure. The Kings Science Academy is currently being investigated for financial irregularities.

Mr Hunt also found fault with Gove's elitist model of education. He suggested that there were no pathways in place for children who were not "as academically gifted as the secretary of state", and was baffled by Gove's "total lack of interest in vocational pathways".

A Labour government's approach to education would replace the competing ranks of free schools, academies and local authority schools with networks of collaboration at both local and regional levels. It would also provide the much-needed middle layer of oversight between schools and government, according to Hunt.

This would most likely involve parents and local authorities, and Hunt said that former education secretary David Blunkett would be drawing up a policy indicating the specific details. He admitted that their plan wasn't set in stone just yet, and that "we haven't got the answer yet but we know the question".

Hunt emphasised the importance of good quality teachers in teaching jobs and engagement with pupils as having a much higher importance than a zealous desire to reform schools and the curriculum.

"Most parents don't want a Leninist revolutionary in charge of their kids' schools, they want someone concerned with improving standards and raising attainment," he said.

As someone looking for a job in teaching, what do you think of Michael Gove's attempts to reform the education system?