The Education Act 2002 (c. 32) is an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

that gave schools greater autonomy to implement experimental teaching methods.

Main provisions

The act significantly amended legislation relating to

academies An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, publicly funded schools operating outside of local government control and with a significant degree of autonomy areas such as wages and digressing from the national curriculum. Academies were originally set up under the

Learning and Skills Act 2000 The Learning and Skills Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced under the first Tony Blair government. It made changes in the funding and administration of further education, and of work-based learning (or appre ...

under the name "city academies", and were renamed to "academies" by this act. Schools which have innovative ideas to improve education, but are prevented by an existing law from implementing them, will be able to apply for exemption from that law. Schools which demonstrate a high standard of teaching will be given exemption national controls such as the

national curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...

, agreements on teachers' pay and conditions and the way the scheduling of the school day and terms. Schools designating or re-designating as

specialist school Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

s could now gain specialisms in Business and Enterprise,

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, Mathematics and Computing and

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. The act imposes various minimum standards for

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

s in areas such as

health and safety Occupational safety and health (OSH) or occupational health and safety (OHS) is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work (i.e., while performing duties required by one's occupation). OSH is re ...

and space requirements.

List of provisions

*Power to innovate (sections 1-5) *Earned autonomy (sections 6-10) *School companies (sections 11-13) *Grant-making power (sections 14-18) *Governance (sections 19-40) *School funding (sections 41-45) *School admission, exclusion and attendance, (section 46-53) *Powers of intervention (sections 54-64) *Academies (sections 65-69) *Early years (sections 149-156) *Independent schools (sections 157-174) *Student loans (section 186) *Inter-authority recoupment (sections 206-207) Identify school funds

References

External links

Explanatory notes to the Education Act 2002
from

UK Statute Law Database legislation.gov.uk, formerly known as the UK Statute Law Database, is the official Web-accessible database of the statute law of the United Kingdom, hosted by The National Archives. Established in the early 2000s, it contains all primary le ...

{{Authority control United Kingdom Education Acts United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2002 2002 in education July 2002 in the United Kingdom