"Academy freedom for all schools," says Labour's Twigg 17 June 2013 Last updated at 02:16 By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent All state schools in England should have the independence given to academies and free schools, under proposals to be announced by Labour's education spokesman, Stephen Twigg. This would mean all schools would control areas such as the curriculum, budgets and the school calendar, regardless of their status. Mr Twigg says he wants to end a "fragmented, divisive" school system. But a government source said Labour is "totally confused on school freedoms." In a major policy speech on Monday, Mr Twigg will take a significant step towards setting out the opposition's schools policy. Mr Twigg will argue against an "incoherent" and "bureaucratic" system in which different types of school have different levels of flexibility. Freedom "We know that giving schools more freedom over how they teach and how they run and organise their schools can help to raise standards," the shadow education secretary will tell his audience at the RSA in London. So why should we deny those freedoms to thousands of schools? All schools should have them, not just academies and free schools. A school should not have to change its structure just to gain freedoms. Since Labour left office in 2010, more than half of secondary schools in England have become self-governing academies, and rather than reversing this tide, Mr Twigg will say that all schools should share similar degrees of autonomy. Academies, state-funded schools which operate outside of local authority control, can set their own curriculum and decide their own school terms and the length of school days. They have greater financial independence and can buy in services such as technology. Rather than turn back from the model of school autonomy, a Labour government would accelerate more schools in that direction. Pay limits "Many academies say freedom to innovate in the curriculum has given their teachers a new sense of confidence and professionalism," Mr Twigg will say. But this does not mean that Labour wants all schools to have every freedom associated with academies. Academies are able to set their own pay and conditions for their teaching staff, a power that has been controversial with the teachers' unions. It is expected that Labour will not propose that this power should be extended to all schools, arguing that the current national pay framework should not be broken up. Since academies were first launched by Labour's Tony Blair, there have been local campaigns against the expansion of academies, backed by teachers' unions, which have argued that they are a step towards dismantling the state school system. There are now almost 3,000 academies, with the change to academies more widespread among secondary than primary schools. But the announcement by Mr Twigg, with promises of "freeing schools from top-down policies," seems set to draw a line under any suggestion that Labour might withdraw support from academies. There will also be attention paid to how Labour plans to shape the growing number of free schools, opened by parents and other groups. There are more than 80 free schools already open - and although Labour has previously said it will not close existing schools, a question remains about how a future Labour government would consider bids to open more free schools. The government is accusing Labour of confusion and indecision about its response to school freedoms. "Stephen Twigg has previously said that he wants to take freedoms over the curriculum away from academies," said a government source. Just two months ago he even said Labour will restore local authority control over academies. Qualified to teach The government is also attacking Labour's proposal that only staff with teaching qualifications should be allowed to teach in state schools. A Department for Education source said schools needed the "flexibility to allow brilliant teachers from private schools or abroad to teach in state schools." It's a mistake to confuse being properly qualified and state-controlled licences, and it would be stupid to stop brilliant teachers who want to be able to switch from private to state schools from doing so. Head teachers' leader Brian Lightman welcomed the continuity suggested by Labour's plans to extend academies rather than reinvent the school system. "The last thing schools need is yet more turmoil caused by rushed reforms," said Mr Lightman, general secretary of the ASCL head teachers' union. However there is a need to reduce variability amongst schools so it is therefore right that any freedoms granted to academies and free schools should be extended to all state schools. Mr Lightman also backed the idea of maintaining a national system of pay and conditions.