By Mike Baker BBC News education correspondent

Mike Baker charts the progress of the government's education reforms

Unveiling his education reform package, last October, the prime minister promised "pivotal" and "irreversible" change.

The promises certainly sounded radical - a new system of "independent, self-governing state schools" to release "parent power" and local councils to switch from being "providers" of schools to mere "commissioners" of services.

The rhetoric was perhaps over-ripe - it alarmed Labour MPs into believing the comprehensive school system was under threat.

The genie of selection was out of the bottle and anyone familiar with the politics of education knows the trouble that causes.

Limitations

Yet the detailed proposals hardly lived up to the rhetoric.

The freedoms of the planned trust schools were, it turned out, almost identical to those enjoyed by existing foundation and voluntary aided schools.

They could not become grammar schools, they could not select pupils by ability, and they would not get extra money.

The only real difference was the ability to form permanent relationships with other schools and outside partners, be they universities or charities.

The government's aim was, fundamentally, to spread good management and practice from excellent schools to weak schools - it had little to do with selection.

Concessions

But it was too late - rebel MPs doubted the government's intentions. Backed by the education select committee they lobbied for changes.

Some concessions were made. The code of practice on admissions will be tightened up and schools will be banned from interviewing parents for admissions - even though hardly any do so.

These concessions were easily granted.

The only one that really hurt the government was the agreement that, in future, local councils could still open new community schools.

That went against the grain for ministers who wanted trust schools to be the one true way.

So the bill remains close to the spirit of the original White Paper but still far short of the grander rhetoric that surrounded it.

Why change?

Away from the political rows, the bill contains important and far-reaching changes - to discipline, school transport, and, most radical of all, encouraging a more personalised style of teaching and learning.

But on the key issue of trust schools, it now looks more like an evolutionary continuation of earlier reforms, rather than a revolutionary change of direction.

Trust school status will remain voluntary, although weak schools will come under pressure to enter trusts.

The great majority of schools, though, argue they already have these freedoms and see no reason to change.