Specialist schools programme

See also: Specialist schools in the United Kingdom

Specialist schools programme
Number of specialist designations in England by year and first specialism from 1994 to 2009 (excluding SEN and Applied Learning Colleges)
Date
  • September 1993 (1993-09) – April 2011 (2011-04) (England)
  • September 2006 (2006-09) – August 2011 (2011-08) (Northern Ireland)
Duration18 years
LocationEngland and Northern Ireland
CauseSuspension of the City Technology Colleges programme
Target
  • Specialisation of state schools to boost achievement, cooperation and diversity (England and Northern Ireland)
  • Replacement of the comprehensive school system with a specialist school system (England)
Budget£450 million (2010/2011)[1]
Participants3068 schools designated in England by 2010[2][3]
44 schools designated in Northern Ireland by 2011[4]
OutcomeNear-universal specialist secondary system established in England; 96.6% of English state-funded secondary schools were designated with specialist status[5]
Websitestandards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools

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 United Kingdom which encouraged state schools[a][b] 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's Conservative government, it was relaunched in 1997 as a flagship policy of the New Labour governments, expanding significantly under Prime Minister Tony Blair and his successor Gordon Brown. 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)[c] and Youth Sport Trust (YST), were funded by the Department for Education[d] 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 Evelyn de Rothschild and Microsoft. 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 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 and academy schools. 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 Comprehensive Spending Review.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "The Standards Site: What are Specialist Schools?". Department for Children, Schools and Families. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :52 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Full text of Phil Willis' speech". The Guardian. 23 April 2003. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :46 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Department for Education returns in coalition rebrand". BBC News. 13 May 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2022.


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