New figures have revealed that a significant number of primary schools in the UK have taken the decision to switch to academy status.

Data published by the Department for Education shows that almost 600 primary schools with "long records of under-performance" have been told to find a sponsor and the rise means the number of primary academies is larger than the number of secondary academies for the first time.

In total there are more than 500,000 pupils who are educated in a primary schools with academy status, while more than 30,000 people have teaching jobs in these schools. Including free schools, the number of academies in the country has surpassed 4,000, with 12 per cent of primaries having the status and 58 per cent of secondary schools now academies. 

Education secretary Michael Gove said the aim of the government was to ensure that all children leave primary school literate and numerate and if council-run schools are not able to guarantee this, academies would be asked to achieve this.

He stated: "Hundreds of primary schools which were struggling under council control have now been paired up with academy sponsors and the children in those schools are at last getting up to speed in the 3Rs."

According to Mr Gove the switches have been instigated by primary heads. He explained that the government had stopped politicians and bureaucrats from controlling the education system and given the power to "the ones who know their pupils and understand what they need".

He added that it was inspiring to see so many primary school heads embrace the freedom the academy system brings and use the autonomy to give children a better start in life.

As somebody who is looking for a job in primary school, do you think the growing number of academies is a good thing? Are the decisions being made by heads alone? Should academy chains be subject to the same standard of assessment as local authorities?

Tell us what you think.