The Education Act 2005 (c 18) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It was enacted in order to simplify the process of school improvement, strengthening the accountability framework for schools, in particular by amending the approach used by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

when inspecting schools 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 ...

. This Act repealed the provisions of the School Inspections Act 1996. The Act also brought about changes to the role of the

Teacher Training Agency A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. wh ...

, broadened the need for

local education authorities Local education authorities (LEAs) were local councils in England that are responsible for education within their jurisdiction. The term was used to identify which council (district or county) is locally responsible for education in a system wit ...

to invite proposals for new schools, and introduced 3-year budgets for

maintained school English state-funded schools, commonly known as state schools, provide education to pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 without charge. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend 20,000 or so such schools. Since 2008 about 75% have attain ...

s. The Education Act is divided into five parts, which are summarised below:

Part 1 - School inspections and other inspections by school inspectors

This part of the Act sets out *Procedures for appointment and removal of Her Majesty's Chief Inspectors of Schools in England and Wales *Requirements for inspections of schools at 'prescribed intervals' *Requirement to publish school inspection reports *The circumstances under which a school should be deemed to require

special measures Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards. In education (England and Wales) Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...

or significant improvement; and *Procedures to be invoked when a school is deemed to require

or significant improvement; and *The steps which must be taken by responsible authorities in such circumstances *The parties to whom a copy of the final school inspection report must be passed *The provision for the inspection of Religious Education in faith schools *The provision of rights to inspect by other authorities, including

*The circumstances under which the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

may amend the inspection framework for use in Wales

Part 2 - School organisation

This part of the Act: *amends the processes by which an organisation can propose the creation of a community, foundation or voluntary school *amends procedures for proposing the discontinuation of rural primary schools

Part 3 - Training the school workforce

This part of the Act: *renames the Teacher Training Agency as 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. ...

(TDA). *extends the responsibilities of the TDA to include continuing professional development for teachers and schools and raising standards of teaching, in addition to its existing role of promoting teaching as a career *sets out the circumstances under which the TDA will work in Wales under the authority of the National Assembly for Wales *sets out the financial framework within which the TDA will work *sets out the funding arrangements for the

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) is the Welsh Government Sponsored Body responsible for funding the higher education sector. Functions HEFCW distributes funds for education, research and related activities at Wales's hi ...

(HEFCW) *sets out the power of maintained schools to provide training for the school workforce

Part 4 - Miscellaneous

This part of the Act contains miscellaneous provisions which: *require

to set targets for pupils in their care and in their schools *remove the requirement for

school governors In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, school governors are the overseers of a school. In state schools, they have three main functions: *Giving the school a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction *Holding the headteacher to account for the ...

to produce an annual report, or to hold an annual meeting with parents. *introduce the requirement for governors to produce a

School profile A school profile was a document which was required to be produced by most maintained schools in England, under the provisions of the Education Act 2005. The profile replaced the requirement for school governors to produce an Annual Report to Par ...

*make specific admission arrangements for children in the care of the

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. *set out the requirement for the sharing of information in relation to

Education Maintenance Allowance Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) ( cy, Lwfans Cynhaliaeth Addysg; LCA) is a financial scheme applicable to students and those undertaking unpaid work-based learning in the United Kingdom (except England) and aged between sixteen and nineteen ...

payments, and the provision of

free school meals A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

. *make arrangements for the provision of alternative education for otherwise excluded pupils.

Part 5 - General

This part of the Act indicates those functions which may be exercised by the National Assembly for Wales in respect of Wales.

Section 125 - Commencement

The following orders have been made under section 125(4):
The Education Act 2005 (Commencement No.1 and Savings and Transitional Provisions) Order 2005
(S.I. 2005/2034 (C. 87))
The Education Act 2005 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2006
(S.I. 2006/2129 (C. 70))
The Education Act 2005 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional Provisions) (Wales) Order 2006
(S.I. 2006/1338 (W. 130) (C. 45))
The Education Act 2005 (Commencement No. 2) (Wales) Order 2010
(S.I. 2010/735 (W. 72) (C. 49))

References

Halsbury's Statutes ''Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales'' (commonly referred to as ''Halsbury's Statutes'') provides updated texts of every Public General Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Measure of the Welsh Assembly, or Church of England Measur ...

External links

* {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2005 United Kingdom Education Acts 2005 in education April 2005 events in the United Kingdom