2011 Education Act

The Coalition Government’s Education Bill became law on 15^th November 2011.  Together with the 2010 Academies Act, this provides the legislative framework to underpin the government’s education reform programme.

Provision in the Act includes:

·         strengthening schools’ powers to deal with poor pupil behaviour;

·         refocusing OFSTED’s inspections of schools on the four key areas of pupil achievement, quality of teaching, leadership and management and behaviour and safety and exempting outstanding schools from routine OFSTED inspections;

·         strengthening the government’s powers to intervene in poorly performing schools;

·         providing the power to create an entitlement to free early years provision for disadvantaged two year olds;

·         extending the Academies and Free Schools programme further with Academies for 16-19 year olds and alternative provision Academies for the most vulnerable pupils;

·         relaxing the regulations about the size and membership of school governing bodies; and

·         removing a range of bureaucratic requirements on schools.

Most provision in the Act will be commenced within the next three months.

The 2011 Education Act builds on the provision in the 2010 Academies Act. Together, they provide most of the legislative framework required for the government to implement the vision it set out in The Importance of Teaching White Paper published in November 2010.

The full text of the 2011 Education Act can be found and downloaded here .