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| The
role of the Local Education Authority in school education |
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| Conclusion |
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| This
paper has set out the Government’s view of the essential role of a
clearly focused Local Education Authority in school education. The
self managing school is key to the delivery of high standards, and
needs the maximum freedom to make decisions and manage resources so
as to achieve demanding targets. That means having a real choice of
provider wherever possible, so that they can decide on the best and
most cost effective service. Even the most successful schools need
support at the local level of the kind spelt out in part 1 of this
paper. But, just as Authorities are expected to intervene when schools
fail to deliver, so the Government is not prepared to tolerate less
than high quality provision by Local Education Authorities. Where
Authorities are shown by inspection to be failing the schools and
pupils in their care, the Government will not hesitate to intervene
in the future as it has in the past. |
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| That
said, the framework now in place, and the proposals in this paper
for tackling known areas of weakness, should enable a sea change in
Education Authority performance. The context is the full range of
Local Authority services, the modernisation of Local Authority decision
making taking place as a result of the Local Government Act 2000,
and the new community strategies required under the same Act. It should
be possible now, as never before, to draw on the expertise which exists
in the community, between Authorities and in other public, voluntary
and private sector organisations to achieve the objective of an excellent
education for all children. |
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| We
are therefore establishing a clear and firm base from which the Education
Authority of the future can develop. We will welcome widespread debate
on how we can ensure that all support services, local or national,
aid the task of raising standards, improving quality of delivery and
securing fairness in the use and outcome of public investment in the
education system. |
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