The Catholic Education Service appears to have signalled its opposition to Government plans to turn all schools into academies by 2020. Chancellor George Osborne announced that schools must become academies by 2020 or have plans to do so by 2022. But a spokeswoman for the Catholic Education Service said any decision to convert to academy status should be made by local dioceses in collaboration with parents. She said: “There are 2,142 Catholic schools in England and more than 430 of them are academies. The Catholic Church has more than a century’s worth of experience running schools in England and has pioneered many of the academy models in use today. “However, no two schools are the same. Therefore the decision about academisation must be made by the local diocese in collaboration with parents and the wider community.” But Michael Merrick, who teaches in a Catholic school, said the new arrangement might give Catholic schools more autonomy. He said: “At the moment, it’s just about waiting for the dust to settle. It will, of course, allow dioceses to push ahead with plans for multi-academy trusts, and these bring with them the potential for a certain strategic coherence across multiple schools which could prove to be an advantage. “Freedom from the national curriculum might also allow more latitude with curriculum design and allow our schools the space, in theory at least, to craft a truly Catholic, integrated curriculum,” Mr Merrick said. Academies were first introduced under Labour. They have expanded rapidly since 2010.