Applied Learning Colleges, formerly Vocational Colleges, were introduced in 2006 as part of the

Specialist Schools Programme The specialist schools programme (SSP), first launched as the Technology Colleges programme and also known as the specialist schools initiative, specialist schools policy and specialist schools scheme, was a government programme in the United ...

in England. The system enabled

secondary schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

to specialise in certain fields, in this case,

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

. Schools that successfully applied to the

Specialist Schools Trust SSAT (The Schools Network) Limited (branded as SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers network) is a UK-based, independent educational membership organisation working with primary, secondary, special and free schools, academies and UTCs. It p ...

and became Applied Learning Colleges received extra funding from this joint private sector and government scheme. In order to fulfil the criteria for Applied Learning College status schools had to either be designated as a High Performing Specialist School or select it as part of a combined specialist when first specialising. By 2009, 164 schools had specialised into an Applied Learning College. After the Specialist Schools Programme was discontinued in 2011, schools must now use their

Dedicated Schools Grant Dedicated may refer to: Music * Dedicated, a British record label whose artists included Spiritualized Albums * ''Dedicated'' (ATB album), 2002 * ''Dedicated'' (Renée Geyer album), 2007 * ''Dedicated'' (Carly Rae Jepsen album), 2019 * '' ...

or become an

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

if they wish to receive this specialism.

References

{{Specialist schools Specialist schools programme