British Conservative Party politician Michael Gove served as Secretary of State for Education from 2010 to 2014. Gove was appointed as Education Secretary with the formation of the Cameron-Clegg coalition, having previously been the shadow secretary of state for children, schools and families. His earliest moves included reorganising his department, announcing plans to allow schools rated as Outstanding by Ofsted to become academies, and cutting the previous government's school-building programme. He opened the National Pupil Database and introduced the phonics check, a reading test for year 1 pupils. The later parts of his tenure were dominated by the Trojan Horse scandal. During his Education Secretaryship, Gove was criticised by teachers unions and academic associations for his attempts to overhaul British education. He left the role when he was moved by Prime Minister David Cameron to the office of chief whip in the 2014 cabinet reshuffle. Appointment and early actions Gove became Secretary of State for Education with the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government following the hung parliament after the 2010 general election. He ascended to the role after serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in the Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron from 2007 to 2010. An early action was changing the name of the department from the Department for Children, Schools and Families to its previous name, the Department for Education. He announced plans for schools rated as Outstanding by Ofsted to be allowed to become academies. Comments on social class and school achievement In July 2010, he said that the Labour Party had failed in their attempt to break the link between social class and school achievement despite spending billions of pounds: quoting research, he indicated that by the age of six years, children of low ability from affluent homes were still out-performing brighter children from poorer backgrounds. At a House of Commons Education Select Committee he said that this separation of achievement grew larger throughout pupils' school careers, stating: "In effect, rich thick kids do better than poor clever children when they arrive at school [and] the situation as they go through gets worse". Exam and curriculum reforms Gove's views on exam systems became clear in December 2014 after the release of archive papers from 1986. GCSEs were the brainchild of Sir Keith Joseph. Margaret Thatcher, believing they lacked rigour, fiercely opposed them. However, opposition to the new exams from the