During a visit to Oxfordshire this week the Education Secretary pondered the pace of reform and how to respond when policy did not appear to be working at every school.

Michael Gove, touring schools in Abingdon in the week of the county council elections, was responding to our reporter’s questions about academies — and in particular the difficulties being experienced at Oxford Academy.

For last year, after almost five years of academy status, just 26 per cent of pupils achieved five GSCE grades A* to C including English and maths.

Of course, Mr Gove did not miss the opportunity to suggest that disappointing academy results can sometimes be put down to the academy sponsors not delivering the desired improvements or the fact some schools have “inherited profound problems and need a bit of time in order to be able to effect the changes”.

Well, in Oxford Brookes University and the Oxford Diocese, which is responsible for 279 schools serving nine local authorities (the largest number of schools in any Anglican diocese), no one can say that Oxford Academy sponsors are short of experience and commitment to making the school a success. As for profound problems, while there are pockets of deprivation to be accounted for, it is still sited in one of the UK’s most affluent counties and in the world’s greatest seat of learning.

However, while being ready enough to share any blame around, at least Mr Gove was happy to concede that change cannot be expected overnight and every school is in fact different.

A prominent Oxford head, Dr Tim Hands, will be hoping that Mr Gove will also pause to reflect on other major areas of policy as well and contemplate where the rapid flow of major school reforms have got him with such confidence-sapping embarrassments as the English exam fiasco and U-turn on the new Ebacc qualification. Dr Hands goes far beyond that in The Oxford Times this week, questioning the Government changes to the curriculum and the exam system. For him the real danger is the extent of political interference in education. Take, for instance, the National Curriculum; what began as a means of comparing schools has ended up becoming a politically influenced set of tests, he tells us.

Political interference hardly began with David Cameron’s Government, it is just coming at a rate that continues to cause fear at schools and universities. Both Mr Cameron and Mr Gove would be wise to reflect on his strong criticisms. For Dr Hands cannot be dismissed as a politically motivated commentator or NUT hothead. Apart from being master of Magdalen College School, he has served on government and independent committees and most significantly is the chairman-elect of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, the voice of the world’s leading independent schools. It is encouraging that the next HMC chairman believes that developments in the state and independent sectors should be viewed together and not in isolation. In the coming year the state sector would be wise to embrace him as a highly influential friend, while Mr Gove would be mistaken to view him as yet another Oxford enemy.