The government's decision to announce a plan that would see all schools in England and Wales removed from local authority power and turned into academies has been criticised for the past few weeks, and now a headteacher has quit his position in protest against the plans.

Since the government announcement, various teachers' unions up and down the country have carried out protests to show the government that the academies plan is not welcomed by the education sector itself. However, ministers say that it's all about bringing parity and fairness to the funding schools receive, making it universal across the country.

Jeremy Gargan, headteacher at Aycliffe Village Primary School in County Durham, wrote to parents of his pupils, telling them why he personally opposes the scheme, before he sensationally quit his role. In his letter, he heavily criticised the National Funding Formula announced by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan. "The government appears to be very blinkered in its approach. "If the route to raising standards was through academisation, why have only 2,500, out of nearly 17,000 schools, chosen to become academies?"

Mr Gargan also told BBC Tees: "I believe that the enforced route of converting everybody to an academy won't actually raise standards." "I believe that we run our school effectively here ourselves, and if we were forced into a multi-academy trust, there's a likelihood that another school would actually be calling the shots and telling us how we should be running our own school." In the letter he sent to pupils' parents, Mr Gargan also said that national targets that are being set for achievement at present are setting pupils up to fail, potentially turning them against school at a time when it is critical they engage with their education.