The expansion represents a 50 per cent increase in the number of academies opened under Labour.
Teaching unions branded the reforms a “failure” and said most schools shunned the reforms.
Labour said it was a “further embarrassment” for the Coalition following claims that more than 1,000 schools had expressed an interest in the scheme.
But Michael Gove, the Schools Secretary, insisted the numbers were “very encouraging” and represented a sign that more schools would adopt academy freedoms.
“This Government believes that teachers and head teachers, not politicians and bureaucrats, should control schools and have more power over how they are run,” he said.
Mike Harris, head of education at the Institute of Directors, said: “Employers share the widespread sense of urgency to improve the education system. Whilst the fruits of these reforms cannot come soon enough, as continuing weaknesses in literacy and numeracy demonstrate, reform will not happen overnight. To expect other