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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
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which encouraged
state schools State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...
in England and Northern Ireland to raise private sponsorship in order to become specialist schools – schools that specialise in certain areas of the curriculum – to boost achievement, cooperation and diversity in the school system. First introduced in 1993 to England as a policy of
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...
's
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
government, it was relaunched in
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as a flagship policy of the
New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...
governments, expanding significantly under Prime Minister
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
and his successor
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
. The programme was introduced to Northern Ireland in 2006, lasting until April 2011 in England and August 2011 in Northern Ireland. By this time, it had established a near-universal specialist system of secondary education in England, with almost every state-funded secondary school in England having specialised. This system replaced the comprehensive system which had been in place since the 1970s. Under the programme, schools wishing to specialise had to be designated specialist in a subject specialism. After designating, specialist schools then benefitted from a grant of £100,000 and an annual extra £129 per pupil for four years, re-designating their status when this period expired. Re-designating schools could apply for a second specialism and high performing specialist school designation, which gave them more funding. Designation originally required schools to raise between £20,000 and £50,000 in private sector sponsorship, however the process was modified in 2010, making sponsorship optional. Schools without sponsorship did not receive the money granted to other specialist schools. Sponsorship was also optional for re-designating schools, but those who chose not to raise any still kept their specialist funding. Since the programme's abolition, schools no longer need to designate or re-designate for specialist status, however the extra funding granted after gaining this status is no longer available. Two organisations, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) and Youth Sport Trust (YST), were funded by the
Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Departme ...
to help schools raise sponsorship and support them through the programme's designation and re-designation process. A number of high-profile individuals and organisations sponsored schools in the programme, such as
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and
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. Sponsors could sit on the governing bodies of these schools. The SSAT was also the Department's main advisory body on the programme, managing and delivering it on the Department's behalf; its long-time chairman Sir Cyril Taylor advised multiple education secretaries on the programme and influenced much of its development. The trust was an
umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...
for specialist schools and also managed the government's specialist schools network, a collaborative partnership made for the programme that included all of the country's state specialist schools, including those designated through the programme,
City Technology Colleges In England, a City Technology College (CTC) is an urban all-ability specialist schoolWalter (2007), p. 6 for students aged 11 to 18 specialising in science, technology and mathematics. They charge no fees and are independent of local authority ...
and
academy schools An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Mos ...
. The network was used to share schools' skills and turn its members into centres of excellence, and was thought by the trust to be the largest school network in the world. It was defunded and abolished after the 2010
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.


Early years


Creation and implementation: 1993–1997

The
Education Reform Act 1988 The Education Reform Act 1988 is widely regarded as the most important single piece of education legislation in England and Wales since the 'Butler' Education Act 1944. Provisions The main provisions of the Education Reform Act are as follows: ...
introduced a new compulsory subject of technology, but there were insufficient funds to equip all schools to teach the subject. A first attempt at developing specialist schools to solve this issue, the
City Technology Colleges In England, a City Technology College (CTC) is an urban all-ability specialist schoolWalter (2007), p. 6 for students aged 11 to 18 specialising in science, technology and mathematics. They charge no fees and are independent of local authority ...
(CTC) programme between 1988 and 1993, had produced only 15 schools despite an initial aim of 200, and had to be suspended after the recent recession. Prime Minister
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...
and his education secretary John Patten approached the programme's pioneer Sir Cyril Taylor, and tasked him with finding a cost-effective way to turn existing schools into institutions similar to CTCs. Taylor proposed the creation of the specialist Technology College, which was in turn proposed by the government's
Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Departme ...
(DfE) in the 1993 education
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
''Technology colleges: schools for the future''. Established from already existing secondary schools, they would raise and receive £100,000 through sponsorship, benefit from an extra £100 per pupil every year and specialise in mathematics, technology and science. They would also have sponsors in their governing bodies. It was intended that they would further the CTC programme's impact and add diversity to the school system. The resulting Technology Colleges programme was launched in September 1993 with the stated intent of promoting technology, allowing schools with
voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...
and grant-maintained status to apply for Technology College designation after raising the required £100,000 in private sponsorship. If accepted, schools with Technology College status then received the extra funding as promised in the white paper and had to spent it towards their specialism over a three-year period, re-designating after this period had expired. Schools had already begun specialising in technology under the Technology Schools Initiative (TSI) launched a year prior. Sir Cyril Taylor became the government's advisor on the programme, serving in this position under ten consecutive education secretaries. His educational trust, the City Technology Colleges Trust, was given a similar position as the DfE's main advisory body on the programme. It managed and delivered the programme on the Department's behalf, receiving funds from it to help schools raise the required sponsorship for specialist designation. These factors gave Taylor a significant amount of influence over much of the programme's development and he would later be described as the programme's architect, leader, head and initiator. The first 12 Technology Colleges were designated in March 1994, joining the government's newly-established specialist schools network. Made for the new programme, this network was a collaborative partnership of state specialist schools led by the 15 specialist CTCs. It had previously included the TSI's 220 Technology Schools, although the TSI was scrapped sometime before the first Technology Colleges were designated. All specialist schools designated in the new programme were part of this network, which, like the new programme, was managed by the CTC Trust. The trust used the network to help schools share their skills and turn its members into centres of excellence. It would later become, according to the trust, the world's largest school network. Specialist schools also became members of the trust, which was an
umbrella organisation An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...
for all of these schools. With the first designations, Education Secretary John Patten announced plans to introduce more specialist schools in art, sport, music, language and business. The Technology Colleges were a trial of these plans and Patten expected to see 160 more designated over the next few years. Teachers opposed the programme as schools controlled by local government were unable to participate, with critics claiming that it aimed to incentivise schools to
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of their control. Officially, participation was restricted to voluntary aided and grant-maintained schools because of their favourable administrative style, which included provisions for sponsor governors. Other critics accused the programme of covertly introducing selection in schools, as grant-maintained and voluntary aided schools could select 10% of their pupils in specialist aptitude. Between 1993 and 1995, the programme developed as the specialist schools programme and was opened up to schools under local government control on the orders of
Gillian Shephard Gillian Patricia Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, (''née'' Watts; born 22 January 1940), is a British Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk from 1987 to 2005. Shephard served as a Cabin ...
, the new education secretary. Shephard introduced specialist schools in language as planned and moved towards increasing specialist selection, a move criticised by unions but welcomed by the Labour Party, the
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to the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
government. By this time, there were 30 schools specialising in language and 151 schools specialising in technology, excluding the 15 City Technology Colleges. In the 1996 education white paper Self-''Government for Schools'', art and sport specialisms were confirmed and a target was set for a total of 250 specialist schools by 1997. The ability for specialist schools to select 10% of their pupils was planned to be modified to 30%. Despite this, Education Secretary Gillian Shephard maintained that she was more interested in specialisation than selection. The art and sport specialisms were brought to the programme by Education Undersecretary
Cheryl Gillan Dame Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (; 21 April 1952 – 4 April 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham from 1992 until her death in 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she served a ...
, which was something she considered to be one of her proudest achievements in politics. Unlike the programme's other specialisms, Sports Colleges were supported by the Youth Sport Trust (YST). It took on the CTC Trust's task of helping schools raise the required sponsorship for specialist designation in sport and, like the CTC Trust, was funded by the DfE to do so. The first designations in the art and sport specialisms were awarded to schools in early 1997.


Run-up to the 1997 general election

By the end of 1996, 182 specialist schools had been designated, with the majority of them being Technology Colleges. In light of this, the CTC Trust was renamed the Technology Colleges Trust (TCT). At this time, the trust began working to ensure the programme's continuation beyond the incoming 1997 general election; it was expected that Labour would win the election, resulting in a change of government. Historically a left-wing party, Labour advocated the comprehensive system of schools, a system which opposed the specialist schools programme's values of school selection and diversity, and some expected that they would abolish the programme upon being elected. However, its leader
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
had moved the party to the right under his
New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...
project. Now a centrist party, Labour dropped many of their
social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
principles, including the defence of comprehensive education. Although, much of its membership opposed the programme in 1993 and 1994, some leading figures began expressing support once schools under local government control were allowed to participate. This was reiterated at the 1996
Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when th ...
held in September and October, where it was announced that the programme would be supported as long as all state schools were allowed to participate. According to his adviser Conor Ryan,
Shadow A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two- dimensional silhouett ...
Education Secretary
David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...
had supported specialist schools since February 1996. Blunkett denounced comprehensives as failed schools a month later and stated his goal to reform them, while keeping the "comprehensive ideal". One of his proposals for reform was to establish "families" of close by specialist schools that specialised in different subjects, thereby allowing pupils to move between them. This proposal received mixed reactions, with some supporting it as long as these groups were not selective and others wanting
ability grouping Ability grouping is the educational practice of grouping students by potential or past achievement for a relevant activity. Ability groups are usually small, informal groups formed within a single classroom. It differs from tracking by being l ...
in individual schools instead. In the same year, Blunkett developed a friendship with Cyril Taylor during the latter's visit to his son's school. He offered Blunkett his support should he successfully become education secretary.
Estelle Morris Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, (born 17 June 1952), is a British politician and life peer who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2002. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) ...
, Labour's spokeswoman for schools, also supported specialist schools, having previously taught at one herself. Although Labour had expressed support for specialist schools, the party still made no promises to extend the coinciding programme. In December 1996, Leader of the Labour Party Tony Blair was scheduled to open
Carmel RC Technology College Carmel College (formerly Carmel RC College) is a secondary school on ''The Headlands'' in Hummersknott, Darlington, England. It also has a sixth form, Carmel College Sixth Form admitting about 150 students each year. Following an OFSTED ins ...
. Taylor joined Blair and his adviser Tim Allan on the train ride to the school, where they discussed the programme for an hour. Blair questioned Taylor about school sponsorship, improvement and enrolment and specialist school cooperation. Taylor presented research produced by the TCT claiming that Technology Colleges outperformed non-specialist schools. This, alongside Blair's good impression of Carmel RC Technology College, led to the implementation of the programme's expansion as Labour policy. Both major political parties pledged to continue the programme in their election campaigns. The Conservatives originally proposed allowing comprehensives to designate as new
grammar schools A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...
through the programme, however this was abandoned due to conflict within the party. They also promised to designate 900 more specialist schools by 2001. Tony Blair's counter-proposal was to lower this number to 300 and to redirect some of the programme's funding to urban areas. However, David Blunkett wanted another 1000 specialist schools designated. He, in response to the Conservatives' plans to introduce grammar school designation, called them "totally confused" over their education policy. Blair echoed similar sentiments, calling the party's execution of the programme "unplanned and incoherent". Blair promised to make supporting other local schools a requirement for specialist schools if they wished to receive additional funding for equipment. Sources from the party said this local support would invalidate the controversy surrounding specialist schools' right to a partially selective intake and promised that this right would be maintained. Planned Conservative spending for the programme was also criticised by Labour, as the cost would far exceed the programme's budget.


Relaunch and expansion


Entry into mainstream education: 1997–2002

After the May 1997 general election, Labour entered government, with the Conservatives entering opposition. One of New Labour's priorities in government was "education, education, education". This included the diversification of the school system and the replacement of the "bog standard comprehensive" by specialist schools. The specialist schools programme was relaunched in July, with an emphasis on school cooperation, achievement and diversity, and a new long-term goal of having all secondary schools secure specialist status was set. The programme became one of the New Labour government's flagship policies and Tony Blair, who was now prime minister, aimed to have another 450 specialist schools designated by the end of his first
parliamentary session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two election ...
. David Blunkett, who was now education secretary, planned to modernise state education by introducing more specialist schools, thereby providing greater diversity in the school system. He introduced the compulsory requirement for specialist schools to share their additional resources with nearby schools. This was known as the "community dimension" and specialist schools had to allocate a third of their funding to it. The dimension also covered their partnerships with these schools, as well as local institutions of further and
higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
and local businesses. Blunkett's tenure as education secretary from 1997 to 2001 coincided with the programme's entry into the mainstream education system. The 1997 education white paper ''Excellence in Schools'' introduced policies that would be enacted by the
School Standards and Framework Act 1998 The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was the major education legislation passed by the incoming Labour government led by Tony Blair. This Act: * imposed a limit of 30 on infant class sizes. * abolished grant-maintained schools, introducin ...
. These policies included the establishment of Education Action Zones; socially disadvantaged areas where specialisation bids were given preferential treatment over those located elsewhere, and the reinforcement of specialist selection, whereby specialist schools were able to select up to 10% of their intake on aptitude in the existing specialisms of sports, arts, languages and technology. Few specialist schools took up this option, yet many accused the government of covertly reintroducing selection, just as they did under the previous Conservative administration. From 1999, the required amount of private sponsorship for bidding schools was halved, and could be made up of goods and services in lieu of cash. Software donations were, however, ineligible because of the difficulty in evaluating the true value of something that had no manufacturing cost and could simply be given away as a form of collateral, but this changed when
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and then
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were allowed to sponsor the programme with "in kind" donations. The government also began funding schools unable to afford sponsorship and gave specialist schools another £20,000 to encourage school cooperation. By this time there were 365 specialist schools, 242 were Technology Colleges, 61 Language Colleges, 33 Sports Colleges and 29 Arts Colleges, with plans to reach a total of 500 specialist schools by 2001. In January 2000, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a realignment of policy from primary education to secondary education, with a focus on the state sector. Another wave of specialist schools would be announced, with the first stage introducing another 36 Language and Technology Colleges. As planned, the total amount of specialist schools was expected to reach 500 in September, and plans for another 300 by 2003 were announced. This would be a total of 800 specialist schools, which was a quarter of the state secondary schools in England at the time. This expansion was welcomed by
Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...
Shadow Education Minister
Phil Willis George Philip Willis, Baron Willis of Knaresborough (born 30 November 1941, Burnley) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is a Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Ha ...
and also by the Conservative Party. After the 2001 general election, the
second Blair ministry The second Blair ministry lasted from June 2001 to May 2005. Following the financial crisis in Japan at the end of the 1990s, there was a brief recession in other parts of the developed world including Germany, Italy and France in the early-2000s ...
published their education white paper ''Schools Achieving Success'' and David Blunkett was replaced as education secretary by Estelle Morris. Morris criticised the comprehensive school system and wanted to continue the previous goal of expanding school diversity through having more specialist schools. ''Schools Achieving Success'' envisaged the expansion of the programme to 1500 secondary schools, which was half of all secondary schools, by 2005. It also introduced, through the ensuing Education Act 2002, new specialisms in business and enterprise, mathematics and computing, engineering and science. Combined specialisms were also introduced and schools failing to designate were offered working towards status, granting them further government support for specialisation. Advanced specialist status was also introduced, with Morris inviting 300 of the top performing specialist schools to become advanced in 2002. Advanced specialist schools were training schools that aimed to improve underachieving comprehensive schools. They were led by the first executive headteachers, super-heads noted for their successful leadership of secondary schools. At this time there were growing concerns from Liberal Democrat MPs, Labour
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and teaching unions that the programme was introducing a two-tier education system made up of partially selective specialist schools with extra funding and comprehensive schools which could not have benefited from any extra money. It was believed that schools located in poorer areas would be unable to raise the required sponsorship for specialist status, although the TCT reported that almost a third of specialist schools were located in
inner cities The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists someti ...
. Mike Baker of the '' BBC'' reported that a hierarchal "ladder" of schools was being established, in which the "higher they climb, the bigger the prizes they collect". It was worried that some schools, especially those in rural areas, would be left behind while others reaped the benefits of specialist status. Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed these concerns as "groundless", arguing that specialist status would instead increase social equality. There was also confusion between specialist schools designated in the programme, traditional specialist schools such as music schools and
special schools Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
that served pupils with
special needs In clinical diagnostic and functional development, special needs (or additional needs) refers to individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. Guidelines for clinical diagnosis are given in b ...
.


Specialist majority and reforms: 2002–2007

Morris resigned from her position in October 2002 and
Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life T ...
became the new education secretary. Clarke discontinued advanced specialist status, announced his intention for all secondary schools in England to be specialist and "raised the cap" for specialist designations, allowing all schools with satisfactory sponsorships to specialise (previously a limited number of schools were designated each round). A new target of 2000 specialist schools was set for 2006, with there being 992 specialist schools in September 2002. He also introduced the Partnership Fund, funded at £3 million per annum, to make up the shortfall for schools that were unable to raise the required £50,000 of private sponsorship. 20–25% of designated schools utilised this scheme. These reforms were done to avoid a two-tier education system and implement a new specialist school system in England, thereby replacing the comprehensive system already in place. This new system would focus on boosting educational diversity and equality, and would encourage school cooperation, innovation and improvement. It would also emphasise school independence and accountability. To better reflect the increased amount of specialisms now available, the Technology Colleges Trust was renamed to the Specialist Schools Trust (SST) in 2003. That year, further specialisms in music and the humanities were introduced and schools were invited to add a curricular rural dimension to their designation bids. The dimension was made available to re-designations in 2004. High performing specialist status was introduced in 2004 when 69 specialist schools were invited to establish a second specialism. Unlike combined specialisms, second specialisms were not gifted upon first designation and instead came with re-designation. Initially, they were only offered to the high performing specialist schools, alongside the ability to gain training school status and new exclusive vocational and SEN specialisms, however second specialisms were offered to normal specialist schools later that year. The SEN specialism also lost its exclusivity, with 12 special schools gaining the specialism from December 2004. In contrast to the third of funding dedicated in other specialist schools, SEN Colleges had to dedicate half of their additional funding to the community dimension. They did however receive another exclusive £60,000. In January 2004, Minister for School Standards
David Miliband David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of ...
announced that the majority of secondary schools in England, exactly 54%, had attained specialist status. Another announcement in July, made by Education Secretary Charles Clarke, revealed that over 62% of secondaries were now specialist, with another 268 being designated, bringing the total number of specialist schools to 1954. This was the largest expansion of specialist schools to date and meant that the aim for a total of 2000 by 2006 was likely to be met two years earlier than expected. Clarke also released an educational "five-year plan" that aimed to have all English secondaries be specialist by 2008, with at least one serving every community. The plan also reinforced the government's goal of establishing a specialist system with increased school independence from local government authorities and the central government in
Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
. At this time, in a bid to increase parental choice, Conservative Shadow Education Secretary
Tim Yeo Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo (born 20 March 1945) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Suffolk between the 1983 United Kingdom general election and that ...
planned to expand the specialist schools programme by implementing within it a "pupil passport scheme". The scheme would allow all schools, including state schools, to become fully selective. Schools would also be disallowed from accepting students based on their proximity to them and from refusing students who lived outside their
catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
s. Other policies that would be part of the scheme included the introduction of academy status grammar schools and individualised student funding that would follow them throughout their education. In 2005 the SST was given oversight over the academies programme, thereafter becoming the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). Academies, although independent of the specialist schools programme, were required to specialise and had to take part in the community dimension. They were part of the specialist schools network and could attain specialist status in specialisms not included in the specialist schools programme, such as
environmental studies Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sciences, commerce/economics, the humanities, and socia ...
or health, and could bypass the designation process. Although the requirement to specialise has since been removed, multiple academies continue to have specialist status. The academies and specialist schools programmes were sometimes jointly referred to as the specialist schools and academies programme during this period. There were 2382 specialist schools by June 2005. This number continued to grow, reaching 2695 by February 2007. This was 84% of the total secondary schools in England and 17
local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phra ...
now had a universal specialist school system. The programme was extended to English primary schools in a 2007 pilot, where 34 schools were designated with specialisms in music, arts, languages, science and sports.


Entry into Northern Ireland

On 16 November 2004, a conference was held to debate the efficacy and advantages of a specialist education system in Northern Ireland. The conference was well-received, with the Department of Education of Northern Ireland (DENI) agreeing to trial a specialist schools programme for four years. Every secondary was invited to apply for the programme, with the goal of ten being designated specialist from September 2006. 15 specialisms, including the ten available in England, were offered. The five new specialisms exclusive to Northern Ireland were health and social care, leisure and tourism, information and communication technology (ICT), dramatic arts and art and design. A rural and environmental studies specialism was also discussed. By November 2005, 46 schools had applied, of which 13 were reported as shortlisted by ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
''. The shortlisted schools only applied for six of the 15 specialisms: ICT, arts, business and enterprise, music, language and science. 12 of these schools were successfully designated in September 2006, following a speech from Angela Smith at St Louise's Comprehensive College, which was itself designated a
Performing Arts College An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts. They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England in ...
. 32 more schools were designated specialist over the following years; all of these had one of the ten English specialisms.


Near-universal specialist system


Premiership of Gordon Brown: 2007–2010

On 27 June 2007, Tony Blair officially resigned as prime minister after ten years in office, being succeeded by then-
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Ch ...
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
. Brown had held a key role in influencing New Labour's education policy under Tony Blair and wished to continue the policy of school diversification. By this time the specialist schools programme cost £1.5 billion and was allocated a further £50 million for the next three years. The policy of having all secondary schools specialise was maintained, with 90% of state secondary schools specialising by 2008. Brown's education secretary,
Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Ex ...
, published the June 2009 education white paper ''Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system'', with its policies being enacted by the Children, Schools and Families Act 2010. In this white paper the specialist schools programme was placed at the core of the new school system in England and specialist schools were reemphasised as centres of excellence in their specialisms. By this time the English specialist system had become "near-universal", with secondary education being a "truly specialist secondary system". The white paper's policies built on this, using the system to encourage even more cooperation between schools. This cooperation would be legally enforced and was intended to give students access to good teaching. It was expected that all schools would share specialist knowledge in subjects such as language and science and teach the new
14–19 Diploma The 14-19 Diploma was a composite qualification in England launched in September 2008. Its development was announced in the ''14–19 Education and Skills'' White Paper of March 2005. It was available to learners between the ages of 14 and 19, c ...
through the system. Children's Trust Boards, areas where public services and schools would merge, were also planned. Some were already established shortly before the white paper was published, with a number of schools hosting relocated specialist child health clinics, youth centres and sports facilities. To reflect these changes, the specialist schools programme was centred around five new core principles: exported excellence, specialism excellence, school-wide specialism impact, partnership between schools and cooperation with the local community. The designation process was modified to follow these principles, with School Improvement Partners (SIPs) and local government authorities taking control of designations and re-designations from 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). The pilot for the new process took place in autumn 2009. SIPs investigated schools' performance using benchmarks and determined whether they were satisfactory for re-designation. All schools participating in the pilot were successfully re-designated. After the pilot's success, the new designation process was enacted in early 2010. By this time, there were 3068 designated specialist schools in England, or 93% of the country's state-funded secondary schools. The
2008 Financial Crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of ...
damaged the political reputation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and it was growing increasingly unlikely that Labour would win the May 2010 general election. In response, Sir Cyril Taylor approached the Conservative Party's shadow education secretary,
Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Par ...
. Gove wanted to reform the education system by implementing changes that followed a "radical form of
Blairism In British politics, Blairism is the political ideology of Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, and those that support him, known as Blairites. It entered the '' New Penguin English Dicti ...
" and abandoned the party's previous policy of expanding selection in favour of academisation. Taylor and Gove attended a luncheon hosted by the Conservative
Carlton Club The Carlton Club is a private members' club in St James's, London. It was the original home of the Conservative Party before the creation of Conservative Central Office. Membership of the club is by nomination and election only. History T ...
, in which they and 15 other sponsors and supporters of the specialist schools and academies programmes conversed. Taylor made various suggestions for the programmes' continuation under a Conservative government, most of which were well-received by Gove.


Coalition and discontinuation: 2010–2011


England

The Labour government lost power soon after the 2010 general election and the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition entered government. In June 2010 Michael Gove, who was now education secretary, sent a letter to English local authorities informing them of a number of discontinued educational grants, including the £25,000 grant awarded to re-designating specialist schools and the discontinuation of high performing specialist school designation. Schools designating for the first time still received additional funding at a budget of £7 million. Further cuts would be decided in autumn's
Comprehensive Spending Review A spending review, or occasionally a comprehensive spending review, is a governmental process in the United Kingdom carried out by HM Treasury to set firm expenditure limits and, through public service agreements, define the key improvements that t ...
. In the run-up to the review, Labour politicians claimed to have leaked government plans to scrap Sports Colleges and their associated specialist funding in favour of academic subjects. The programme's other specialisms would be spared. Instead, when the review was released and in spite of Michael Gove's meetings with Cyril Taylor, it was announced that all of the programme's English specialist schools would have their dedicated extra funding rerouted and absorbed into the general schools budget, in a process that the government called "mainstreaming". The absorbed funds would now be sent to schools through the Dedicated Schools Grant. The requirement for English schools without academy status to designate and re-designate for specialist status would also be removed, allowing any to specialise at will but without the extra funding awarded to specialist schools previously. Consequently, government funds given to the SSAT and YST to help them support English schools through the designation process and run specialist school networks would be withdrawn, with the central specialist schools network being abolished. These changes took effect from April 2011, ending the programme and the formal process of specialist designation and re-designation in England. According to Gove, the changes had been made to increase the freedom of opportunity that school leaders had from specialisation and its associated funding. Specialism had become "so firmly established", that the "time adcome to remove the Government imposed prescription that adbuilt up around the programme". Gove also expressed his hope that the SSAT would continue to advise him on the benefits of the programme and "how those benefits might be realised in a changed environment".


Northern Ireland

The Northern Irish variant of the programme ended in August 2011, having been scheduled to do so in an announcement by
Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...
education minister Caitriona Ruane in April 2009. The Northern Irish Specialist Schools' Forum Steering Group had met with government
policymakers Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an org ...
to continue the specialist school model after August 2011, planning for it to become the basis of the Northern Irish government's Every School a Good School (ESaGS) policy for school improvement. The group advocated it as an inclusive way to boost standards, share best practice and encourage student voice and proposed having specialist school clusters established across the country, with the benefits of iNet membership being capitalised on (iNet was the international arm of the SSAT). However, the DENI could not afford to continue the model due to budget restrictions and therefore decided to instead "identify ways in which the excellent practice and partnership working demonstrated within so many specialist schools can be shared more widely".


Legacy

The programme left almost every state-funded secondary school in England, 96.6% to be exact, with specialist status; only 80 remained unspecialised. This near-universal specialist system, according to Education Secretary
Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Par ...
and Schools Minister
Nick Gibb Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for ...
, was why the funding was mainstreamed, alongside a government venture for more school freedom and autonomy. More types of specialist school have been introduced since the closure of the programme and specialisms introduced by the programme are still available regardless of designation. The majority of specialist schools designated in the programme, 2799 specialist schools to be exact, continue to operate – designations from the programme remain legally valid as there is no longer a requirement to re-designate. In Northern Ireland for example, the
Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...
and
St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
grammar schools continue to maintain their specialist status in music and technology, having both been designated with these specialisms in September 2009. From 2020, some free schools were opened with specialist
Maths Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
or
Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics Mathemati ...
status under Education Secretary
Gavin Williamson Sir Gavin Alexander Williamson (born 25 June 1976) is a British politician who most recently served as Minister of State without Portfolio from 25 October to 8 November 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Staffordshire s ...
's
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
recovery plan. Conservative prime minister
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
also intended to introduce more specialist schools before his resignation. It is believed that this policy may have harkened back to the specialist schools programme.


Designation process


Specialisms

Schools could apply to be designated specialist in one of ten subject specialisms which, when granted, would turn them into one of the following specialist schools, each having their own sub-specialisms: *
Arts College An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts. They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England i ...
– specialises in and can be a Media, Performing, or Visual Arts College, or a combination of these. Drama and digital arts sub-specialisms were available in Northern Ireland. *
Business and Enterprise College Business and Enterprise Colleges (BECs) were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in England. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields. Schools that successfully applied to the Specialist Schoo ...
– specialises in business, enterprise, mathematics and ICT and their related subjects. *
Engineering College Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
– specialises in science, mathematics and design and technology. *
Humanities College Humanities Colleges are a type of specialist school introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary and primary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, humanities ...
– specialises in English, geography or history and must also specialise in two of the following: citizenship, religious education, drama or classics. *
Language College Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the specialist schools programme (SSP) in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages. Schools that successf ...
– specialises in modern foreign languages. *
Mathematics and Computing College Mathematics and Computing Colleges were introduced in England in 2002 and Northern Ireland in 2006 as part of the Government's Specialist Schools programme which was designed to raise standards in secondary education. Specialist schools foc ...
– specialises in mathematics and ICT or computing, can also be a Mathematics College or Computing College. * Music College – specialises in music but has an additional focus on improving the provision of English, mathematics and ICT. *
Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics Mathemati ...
– specialises in science and mathematics. *
Sports College Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education. United Kingdom Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The programme enabled sec ...
– specialises in physical education, sports and other physical subjects such as dance. * Technology College – specialises in science, mathematics and design and technology. Five more specialisms were exclusively available in Northern Ireland. Only one, information and communication technology, was actually granted. Schools designated in this subject became ICT Colleges. Applications would usually open in March and October each year. Schools initially designating could apply for a combined specialism in two of these specialisms or one of them alongside a
vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious c ...
specialism which allowed
Vocational College A university of applied sciences (UAS), nowadays much less commonly called a polytechnic university or vocational university, is an institution of higher education and sometimes research that provides vocational education and grants academic de ...
(later Applied Learning College) status.
Special schools Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
could apply for a SEN specialism, leading to specialist
SEN College SEN Colleges, also known as Special Specialism Colleges, are specialist special schools in the United Kingdom. They were introduced in 2006 as part of the specialist schools programme following a successful trial in 2004. The system enabled secon ...
status in one of the four specialist areas of the SEND Code of Practice, but could not apply for a combined specialism. Re-designating specialist schools could apply for a second specialism. Secondary vocational and SEN specialisms were offered exclusively to high performing specialist schools. From 2005, a secondary vocational specialism gave high performing specialists the right to open a new
sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate ...
. All schools could add a curricular rural dimension to their designation and re-designation applications. This gave specialist schools an additional curriculum based on
rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...
education. Despite the dimension's focus on rural schools, it was also available to urban and suburban schools.


Requirements and sponsorship

To apply for specialist designation, secondary schools had to demonstrate reasonable standards of achievement, and produce a three-year development plan with quantified targets related to learning outcomes. Secondaries also had to raise £50,000 in a private sector sponsorship bid (£20,000 for secondaries with less than 500 students). Before 1999, these sponsorship bids had to be £100,000. Northern Irish secondary schools had to raise £25,000.
Private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...
sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
includes charitable trusts, internal fund raising and donations from private companies and business sponsors. In some cases donations could be made in cash from entities in the private sector such as Arcadia and
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...
, but could also be donations "in kind" of goods or services. Notable sponsors included Lord Harris of Peckham,
Peter Lampl Sir Peter Lampl, OBE (born 1947), is a British philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation. Early life and education Lampl's father was a Viennese émigré who came to Britain in 1 ...
,
Evelyn de Rothschild Sir Evelyn Robert Adrian de Rothschild (29 August 1931 – 7 November 2022) was a British financier and a member of the Rothschild family. Early life Evelyn de Rothschild was born on 29 August 1931. The son of Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (1 ...
and
Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company the Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. As of M ...
. Secondary schools could not apply if they were in
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 ...
. The total sponsorship during the scheme was of the order of £100 million. The reward for achieving specialist status was a government grant of £100,000 to go with the £50,000 in sponsorship for a capital project related to the specialism and an extra £100 to £129 per pupil per year for four years to support the development plan. This was normally targeted on additional staffing and professional development, though up to 30% may have been spent on equipment. Schools that made a good attempt at achieving their targets over the four-year development plan period normally had their grants renewed at three-year intervals with no further need to raise sponsorship. However, since 2008, the government sought to encourage long-term relationships with business partners by offering a matching grant to re-designating specialist schools that were able to raise a further £25,000 in private sponsorship. English primary schools did not require sponsorship bids for designation, instead they were selected by their local authorities who then reported their decision to the DfE. They also could not choose their specialisms, as the pilot for their participation placed them into one of five locational clusters which dictated the specialisms available.


Designation: 1993–2010

Between 1993 and 2010 the majority of English specialist designations and re-designations were granted by the DCSF. In Northern Ireland, they were granted by Education Authority Boards. English secondaries had to apply to the specialist schools unit of the DCSF during one of the two bidding rounds, usually in March or October. They would then have to provide two letters, one from their local authority and one from a sponsor, supporting their application. From 2003, middle and
upper school Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...
s could submit a joint application for specialist designation and re-designation. Secondaries could also jointly apply, including those of different types. For example,
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
s were able to jointly apply with
secondary modern school A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...
s. A school's application had to include its development plan and how the repeating grants would support said plan, reasons for applying for the capital grant, proof of a planned community dimension, information about sponsors and their cooperation with the school and the school's general information. Schools were told to apply for specialisms based on the needs of their local communities, which were determined through dialogue with local authorities and other schools nearby. Under-designated specialisms were preferred by the DCSF, as were the science and mathematics and computing specialisms. The SSAT supported bids, with an exception to bids for Sports College status, which were instead supported by the YST. From September 2006, specialist re-designations occurred parallel to and were granted based on inspections by
Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, incl ...
(the government body tasked with inspecting educational institutions and keeping them in line). Re-designating specialist schools receiving the lowest Ofsted grade would lose specialist status and be given a year to improve. Failure to do so would result in the schools closing down and reopening as
academy schools An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Mos ...
: schools controlled by a sponsor and funded by the government as opposed to its local authority.


Designation: 2010–2011

From 1 April 2010, control over English specialist designations and re-designations were transferred from the DCSF to local authorities and School Improvement Partners (SIPs). A new procedure for designation was enforced as a result, with this procedure being trialled in autumn 2009. Designation and re-designation was now granted based on meeting national benchmarks and prerequisites unique to each specialism. SIPs were directed to only accept designation and re-designation applications from schools when they met these benchmarks. Local authorities oversaw SIPs and enforced fairness and accountability in their decisions. The DfE was permitted to review these decisions, making sure that SIPs could provide sufficient reasoning, overruling them should they fail to do so. Schools had to show that they would follow the five principles of the specialist schools programme and meet the prerequisites of their desired specialisms. They also had to show improvement in the subjects of their desired specialism in the three years prior to their application. SIPs were allowed to designate schools that refused to raise any of the required private sponsorship, however the funding that came with specialist status for these schools would be withheld by the DfE. When a SIP declined a school's application for designation, they had to provide a larger amount of evidence to the school's local authority than if they accepted. Re-designating specialist schools that failed to meet the national benchmarks were put on
probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
and given a year to improve. Failure to do so would result in the schools being stripped of specialist status.


High performing specialist schools programme

The high performing specialist schools programme (HPSS programme) was a government programme in England that invited successful specialist secondary schools participating in the specialist schools programme to re-designate as high performing specialist schools (HPSS). High performing specialist schools then had to establish a partnership with a school of their choice, gaining additional funds to do so. Specialist schools that re-designated into high performing specialists maintained their original specialism(s) but were allowed to select one or multiple exclusive HPSS options out of five, allowing them to possibly gain another specialism, join one of three different additional programmes or become a training school. Initially there were two more HPSS options to choose from, gaining either a
vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious c ...
or SEN specialism, however these options were later granted to normal specialist schools as long as they were one half of a combined specialism (which were only available to schools initially designating).


Options

Specialist schools re-designating for high performing specialist status were allowed to choose one or multiple of the following options, granting them further funding to facilitate said option: * Gain another specialism * Gain a second specialism in either SEN or vocational learning * Join the
Leading Edge Partnership The Leading Edge Partnership programme was established in 2003 by the Department for Children, Schools and Families in the United Kingdom. The programme's intention was to encourage Secondary schools in England to work in partnership to solve som ...
programme (LEPP) * Join the Raising Achievement Transforming Learning programme (RATL programme), later the Raising Achievement Partnership programme (RAPP) * Join the Youth Support
Trust School The Education and Inspections Act 2006 (c 40) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. According to the government the Act "''is intended to represent a major step forward in the Government’s aim of ensuring that all children in all ...
Leadership Programme * Become a training school


Programmes

The LEPP was established in 2003 by the Department for Education and Skills and was soon followed by the RAPP in 2004. Both programmes were established to solve problems in education. Both intended to do this by establishing partnerships between English secondary schools and, in the case of Leading Edge Partnerships, encouraging them to work to raise achievement through the sharing of proven ideas. The lead school in each Leading Edge Partnership received £60,000 per year to facilitate this. The RAPP allowed headteachers and schools to "mentor and coach" underperforming schools, loan staff and replicate achievement made in their own schools. Both programmes were merged and subsumed into the HPSS programme as the new Leading Edge programme, a subprogramme of the HPSS programme. Leading schools in this programme were invited to become consultant school accredited (CSA), thereby gaining consultant school accredited status. CSA status schools were often called consultant schools. Advanced consultant schools were CSA status schools that displayed an ability to help schools across areas of a broad variety. A Gifted and Talented subprogramme was established as part of the HPSS programme. High performing specialist schools participating in the subprogramme became lead schools, schools that specialised in
Gifted and Talented education Gifted education (also known as gifted and talented education (GATE), talented and gifted programs (TAG), or G/T education) is a broad group of special practices, procedures, and theories used in the education of children who have been identified a ...
. These schools were meant to give their support to other schools.


Evaluation


Systemic evaluation

David Jesson of the
University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...
published a series of annual studies of the results of the specialist schools programme, on behalf of the SSAT. These studies reported that non-selective specialist schools achieved significantly higher results at
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
results than non-specialist
comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...
s, that they achieved higher 'added value' when prior achievement was taken into account, and that the gains had increased with the length of time the school had been specialist. Jesson's statistical methodology was criticised, and others pointed out that early specialist schools were chosen for the programme because they were already successful. Other studies found that specialist schools performed slightly better at GCSE, particularly benefitting more able pupils and narrowing the gap between boys and girls. Subsequent studies attributed the increase to the additional funding, and reported that the effect was diminishing as a greater proportion of schools become specialist. There was evidence that specialist schools took fewer children from poorer families than non-specialist schools. One possible cause was that it may have been easier for middle-class parents to raise the necessary sponsorship. Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Sharp of Guildford found the programme to have "a disproportionate number of middle-class schools." The abolition of the programme led to some schools, mostly Technology Colleges, being unable to afford specialist equipment. An example is Davison High School, which cancelled an initiative for
Year Nine Year 9 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the tenth or eleventh year of compulsory education. Australia In Australia, Year 9 is usually the tenth year of co ...
students where they would use
IPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, ...
s in all of their lessons because of the programme's discontinuation. Other schools that were unable to maintain their equipment began relying on donations from parents. Similar effects were felt in Science Colleges.


Political evaluation

The expansion of the specialist schools programme is believed to have been one of many New Labour policies taken from the
New Right New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...
; this ideology encouraged school competition and parental choice through introducing aspects of the
free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
to education. The "
Old Labour The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement of the late 19th century and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it stressed national planning, using ...
" model of all-purpose comprehensive schools was replaced by diversified specialist schools that enhanced parental choice through a marketised education system. Left-wing commentators had criticised this move away from the comprehensive ideal. The programme was also an example of New Labour's promise to introduce
Third Way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from ...
public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...
reform through a combination of fairness and
neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent f ...
marketisation. The programmed helped continue the policy of restricting the influence of trade unions and local government in the government's education policy, in favour of political advisers and the
voluntary sector The voluntary sector, independent sector, or civic sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by organizations that are non-governmental nonprofit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector, community sector, and nonprofit ...
. The SSAT's influence in particular often "blurred lines between state and non-state". This may have set the framework for the further restrictions introduced by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition through policies such as the expansion of the academies programme and de-unionisation of teaching staff. During the Blair premiership, the programme also helped centralise the government and disestablish the authority of senior civil servants. In 2003, the
Education & Skills Select Committee The Education & Skills Select Committee was a Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The official name was the ''House of Commons, Education and Skills Committee''. The committee was abolished as a result of the ...
, whose membership was mostly made of Labour MPs, found no evidence for the programme's success at raising standards. Liberal Democrat member Paul Holmes concluded that "It seemed to be the extra money and the management process going into that school that made the difference." The 2004–2005 Education and Skills Select Committee found that the cause of the programme's success was unclear and that its aim of boosting diversity had no evident reason for support. Conservative member
Nick Gibb Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for ...
stated in November 2007 that instead of the specialist schools programme, "The key to improvement is a focus on tried and tested approaches to education." He also said that the programme had failed to provide "the higher standards our education system so desperately needs".


See also

* * Schools of Ambition programme *
Leading Edge Partnership The Leading Edge Partnership programme was established in 2003 by the Department for Children, Schools and Families in the United Kingdom. The programme's intention was to encourage Secondary schools in England to work in partnership to solve som ...
*
Education in England Education in England is overseen by the United Kingdom's Department for Education. Local government in England, Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and State-funded schools (England), state ...
*
Education in Northern Ireland Education in Northern Ireland differs from education systems elsewhere in the United Kingdom (although it is relatively similar to Wales), but is similar to the Republic of Ireland in sharing in the development of the ''national school'' syste ...


Notes


References

{{Specialist schools Education policy in the United Kingdom High schools and secondary schools School types Secondary education in England State schools in the United Kingdom United Kingdom educational programs