Policy Document

Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners (July 2004)

Year

2004

Country

United Kingdom

Topic

Education

Subtopic

Compulsory Schooling

Keywords

Compulsory education Educational policy Educational systems Formal education Schooling

Main implications

The strategy paper set out the government's plan of action on education for the 2004-09 period. It represented a major movement towards the privatisation of the British school system. Among the proposed changes were:

- allowing all schools to become specialist schools and expanding the academies programme;

- school funding directly from the government, not from local educational authorities;

- all schools encouraged to become foundation schools, owning their own land and buildings, employing their own staff, and determining membership to their governing bodies;

- giving head teachers the power to set the budget and pay and to select pupils;

- allowing successful schools and grammar schools to expand the number of places offered;

- encouraging partnerships with parents and private and voluntary organisations.

Benefits & Requirements

Coverage: Eligible groups or beneficiaries

All schools

Criteria for coverage

all schools.

Age range

5 - 16

Duration (numbers of years of compulsory education stipulated by this document)

ISCED levels included in compulsory education

not mentioned

Dedication (number of hours per week stipulated by this document)

not mentioned

Is educational tracking implemented or modified by this document?

Education and training required for a compulsory school teacher stipulated by this document

Not mentioned

Is the compulsory education of children of undocumented migrants granted by this document?

Not mentioned

Implementing Text & Related Legislation

Original name of the legal document/act (native language)

Five-Year Strategy for Children and Learners (July 2004)

Date of passage/approval

June 2004

Date of signature

June 2004

Date of publication

June 2004

Are the effects retroactive?

Date of effect

June 2004

Actors

Labour Government; Prime Minister Tony Blair; Charles Clarke, Department for Education and Skills

Financing

Financing responsibilities were removed from local educational authorities and placed with the government, with the freedom of head teachers to set the budget for their school. All finances were therefore to be privatised.

Read the Law

Full Text Source in English

HM Government, Department for Education and Skills (2004) "Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners", presented to Parliament in July 2004.

Original full text source in native language

HM Government, Department for Education and Skills (2004) "Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners", presented to Parliament in July 2004.

Full text web source in English

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/32/pdfs/ukpga_20020032_en.pdf

Original full text web source in native language

http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2004-five-year-strategy.pdf

Comments & Clarifications

The 'Five Year Strategy' represents a strategy document, not a law. Strategy documents set out the action that the government plans to take within a specified time period with regard to a certain policy area.

Secondary Literature & Sources

Secondary literature

- Gilliard, D. “Education in England: A Brief History”. 2011. Available at: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/
- Chitty, C., & Dunford, J. “State Schools: New Labour and the Conservative Legacy”. Wobourn Press, London (1999).