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Education Policy

There are four areas of policy which impact on school design.  The first area concerns specialist schools.  The Specialist Schools Programme supports schools, in conjunction with private sponsorship and additional government funds, to achieve specialist status.  In 2006, 12 years after the programme's inception, over 75% of secondary schools have specialist status.  The government would like all secondary schools to have a specialism.  There are ten specialisms available, and schools may also combine any two specialisms.  What specialism the school has, or would like to have in the future will impact on the facilities required by the school and therefore on school design.  The specialisms are;

Arts, Business and Enterprise, Engineering, Humanities, Languages, Mathematics and Computing, Music, Science, Sports, and Technology. 

www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/atoz/s/specialistschools/  This resource has more information on specialist schools. 

Academies are paid for by central government and private sponsors.  Capital costs are met by the DfES and sponsors and running costs are paid for in full by the DfES.  Academy schools have greater freedom to innovate and are not bound by the National Curriculum in the same way as other schools.  They have a specialism in one or more subject area.  The government would like there to be more academy schools in each local authority.  Private sponsors mean that there is extra capital spend and an emphasis on providing excellent facilities for pupils, sponsors also get a say in the way the school is run.  All these factors will impact on the design of the school.

www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/academies/what_are_academies/?version=1 This resource has more information on academy schools. 

The third policy area that impacts on school design is the issue of extended schools.  The government's vision is for schools to provide extended services during, and at either end of the school day.  This includes things like Breakfast Clubs and after-school activities for young people, but also opportunities for members of the community to use school facilities such as gymnasiums, swimming pools, IT suites and classrooms.  Extended services include:

Schools will therefore be open for longer and provide services to more members of the community.  The design of the school, including additional specialist facilities, will need to reflect this.

The fourth policy area surrounds 14-19 year olds who are a focus of government attention and spending.  The 14-19 White Paper details the government's strategy for this age group and there are several areas that have a bearing on school design.

• Progression will be more fluid with pupils taking qualifications when they are ready, rather than at a fixed point at 16.  This will lead to classes being organised on a different basis.  The government also wants adults to be able to complete Diplomas that were not finished at school. Combined with the extended schools programme could this lead to adults taking evening or even day classes at school?
• The government wants to increase the number of young people who stay on in education post-16.  This may require more schools to cater for post-16 provision.
• Vocational provision will be extended so that by 2015 fourteen different lines of vocational learning are available to pupils.
• All the different lines of learning will be available to pupils within a reasonable distance of their home.  Much of the extended vocational provision will be provided by schools, in particular specialist schools making specialist provision and facilities available to other schools. 
• Every pupil will be entitled to two hours of sport a week and access to extra curricular activities. 

These factors mean that schools will need to think carefully about the facilities they will need to have available, and who they will be available to.  When combined with the extended schools programme, these policies mean that school facilities will be accessed by a much wider section of the community. 

Volcom have compiled a Summary of the 14-19 Education and Skills White Paper

The full 14-19 Education and Skills White Paper is available on the DfES website.

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