Education Act 2002

Main implications

The act applied the changes proposed in the White Paper "Schools: Achieving Success" (2001), with the following implications:

- It gave schools greater freedom to manage their budget, with 85 % of the school budget directly controlled by the Head Teacher;

- It increased the involvement of the private sector in school provision, enabling private, voluntary, and religious organisations to support the management of successful and failing schools;

- It created a higher number of specialist secondary schools and academies attracting private sponsorship;

- It instituted the compulsory use of 'Public Private Partnerships' for failing schools and encouraged their use by successful schools;

- Successful primary schools were allowed to opt out of the National Curriculum to develop innovations.