The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of

His Majesty's Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

responsible for

child protection Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

child services Child and family services is a government or non-profit organisation designed to better the well being of individuals who come from unfortunate situations, ''environmental'' or ''biological''. People who seek or are sought after to participate in ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

(compulsory, further and higher education),

apprenticeships Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

and wider skills in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. A Department for Education previously existed between 1992, when the

Department of Education and Science An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

was renamed, and 1995 when it was merged with the Department for Employment to become the

Department for Education and Employment The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England. Th ...

. The

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

is Rt Hon. Gillian Keegan MP.

Susan Acland-Hood Susan Elizabeth Acland-Hood is a British civil servant who is currently the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education. Prior to taking on the role as Permanent Secretary, she was Chief Executive of HM Courts and Tribunals Service. Fro ...

is the

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

. The expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education are scrutinised by the

Education Select Committee The Education Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any asso ...

History

The DfE was formed on 12 May 2010 by the incoming

Coalition Government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

, taking on the responsibilities and resources of the

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was replac ...

(DCSF). In June 2012 the Department for Education committed a breach of the UK's Data Protection Act due to a security flaw on its website which made email addresses, passwords and comments of people responding to consultation documents available for download. In July 2016, the department took over responsibilities for higher and further education and for apprenticeship from the dissolved

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.Matt Foster
New Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy swallows up DECC and BIS – full details and reaction
''Civil Service World'' (14 July 2016).

Predecessor bodies

* Committee of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

on Education, 1839–1899 * Education Department, 1856–1899 * Board of Education, 1899–1944 *

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, 1944–1964 * Department of Education and Science, 1964–1992 * Department for Education, 1992–1995 * Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), 1995–2001 * Department for Education and Skills (DfES), 2001–2007 *

(DCSF), 2007–2010

Responsibilities

The department is led by the

. The

from December 2020 is Susan Acland-Hood. DfE is responsible for education, children's services, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships, and wider skills in England, and equalities. The predecessor department employed the equivalent of 2,695 staff as of April 2008 and as at June 2016, DfE had reduced its workforce to the equivalent of 2,301 staff. In 2015–16, the DfE has a budget of £58.2bn, which includes £53.6bn resource spending and £4.6bn of capital investments.

Ministers

The Department for Education's ministers are as follows:

Board

The management board is made up of: *

–

* Director-General, Social Care, Mobility and Disadvantage – Indra Morris * Director-General, Higher and Further Education Group – Paul Kett * Director-General, Early Years and Schools – Andrew McCully * Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Operations Group – Mike Green * Chief Executive, Education & Skills Funding Agency – David Withey Non-executive board members: * Marion Plant OBE; CEO of the Midland Academies Trust and Principal * Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE; Former Chief Executive of

Mitie Group Mitie Group PLC (pronounced "mighty") is a British strategic outsourcing and energy services company. It provides infrastructure consultancy, facilities management, property management, energy and healthcare services. It has a head office at The ...

* Ian Ferguson CBE; businessman

Locations

, the DfE has five main sites: * DepartmentForEducationLondon

Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London * Piccadilly Gate, Manchester * 2 St Paul's Place, Sheffield * Bishopsgate House, Darlington * Cheylesmore House, Coventry

Agencies and public bodies

Agencies

Education and Skills Funding Agency

The

Education and Skills Funding Agency The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is an executive agency of the government of the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Department for Education. The ESFA was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of the Education Funding Agency an ...

(ESFA) was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency. Previously the Education Funding Agency (EFA) was responsible for distributing funding for state education in England for 3- to 19-year-olds, as well as managing the estates of

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

, and

colleges A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

and the

Skills Funding Agency The Skills Funding Agency was one of two successor organisations that emerged from the closure in 2010 of the Learning and Skills Council (England's largest non-departmental public body or quango). The agency was in turn replaced by the Educa ...

was responsible for funding skills training for further education in England and running the

National Apprenticeship Service The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), part of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, is a government agency that coordinates apprenticeships in England, enabling young people to enter the skilled trades. History At the beginning of Febru ...

and the

National Careers Service The National Careers Service is the publicly funded careers service for adults and young people (aged 13 or over) in England. Launched in April 2012, it brings together elements of previous publicly funded careers services for adults and young pe ...

. The EFA was formed on 1 April 2012 by bringing together the functions of two

non-departmental public bodies In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of na ...

, the

Young People's Learning Agency The Young People's Learning Agency for England, commonly referred to as the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA), was a UK government body, based in Coventry, which funded further education for 16- to 19-year-olds in England. It closed on 31 M ...

and Partnerships for Schools. The SFA was formed on 1 April 2010, following the closure of the Learning and Skills Council. David Withey is the agency's Chief Executive.

Teaching Regulation Agency

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is responsible for regulation of the teaching profession, including misconduct hearings. Its predecessors include the

National College for Teaching and Leadership The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) (inheritor of the site and functions of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL)) was an executive agency of the Department for Education (a United Kingdom Government Ministry wh ...

(to 2018), the Teaching Agency (to 2013) and the

Training and Development Agency for Schools The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) was a body responsible for the initial and in-service training of teachers and other school staff in England. It was an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Education. ...

(from 1994).

Standards and Testing Agency

The

Standards and Testing Agency The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is responsible for developing and delivering all statutory assessments for school pupils in Education in England, England. It was formed on 1 October 2011 and took over the functions of the Qualifications an ...

(STA) is responsible for developing and delivering all statutory assessments for school pupils in

. It was formed on 1 October 2011 and took over the functions of the

Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) was a charity, and an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for Education. In England and Northern Ireland, the QCDA maintained and developed the National Cu ...

. The STA is regulated by the examinations regulator,

Ofqual The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England. Colloquially and publicly, Ofqual is often referred to as the exam "watchdog ...

Public bodies

The DfE is also supported by 10 public bodies:

Devolution

Education, youth and children's policy is devolved elsewhere in the UK. The department's main devolved counterparts are as follows:

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

* Scottish Government –

Learning and Justice Directorates The Scottish Government Education and Justice Directorates are a group of civil service Directorates in the Scottish Government created by a re-organisation. The individual directorates within the overarching Education and Justice Directorates ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

* Executive Office (children and young people)

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

– Department for Education and Skills

National Curriculum 2014

The Department for Education released a new

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 other ...

for schools in England for September 2014, which included 'Computing'. Following Michael Gove's speech in 2012, the subject of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has been disapplied and replaced by Computing. With the new curriculum, materials have been written by commercial companies, to support non-specialist teachers, for example, ' 100 Computing Lessons' by Scholastic. The Computing at Schools organisation has created a 'Network of Teaching Excellence'to support schools with the new curriculum.

Post-16 area reviews

In 2015, the department announced a major restructuring of the

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

sector, through 37 area reviews of post-16 provision. The proposals were criticised by

NUS NUS or Nus may refer to: * National University of Singapore * Nus, a town in the Aosta Valley of Italy * Neglected and Underutilized Species, or Neglected and Underutilized Crops * National Union of Students (Australia) * National Union of Students ...

Vice President for Further Education Shakira Martin for not sufficiently taking into account the impact on learners; the Sixth Form Colleges' Association similarly criticised the reviews for not directly including providers of post-16 education other than colleges, such as school and academy sixth forms and independent training providers.

Funding and grants

In 2018, The Department for Education confirmed their commitment to forming positive relationships with the voluntary and community sector. In 2020 the department began funding the National Tutoring Programme which employed private companies to deliver the tuition including at least one which uses children as tutors, paying them £1.57 per hour. Tutors received up to £25 of the between £72 and £84 per hour the government paid the companies.

References

External links

*
Official department YouTube channel

Official Flickr presence