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Choice and diversity
The White Paper Higher Standards, Better Schools for All gave the Commissioner a wide remit “to ensure more choice, greater diversity and better access for disadvantaged groups to good schools in every area”.
By giving parents and children a genuine choice between schools that each offer a unique ethos and curriculum, every child can find a school place where they are happy and can flourish.
What is more, by ensuring that school places are tailored to pupils' needs and that each one provides a good education, choice and diversity also help to raise standards.
The Education and Inspections Act (2006) places a duty on all local authorities to exercise their powers with a view to:
(a) securing diversity in the provision of schools, and
(b) increasing opportunities for parental choice.(Education and Inspections Act, 2006. Part 1, Clause 2)
What do we mean by choice?
Local authorities have a duty to commission places from schools which provide parents and pupils with a choice of schools in their area. The OSC promotes diversity as a way of providing choice to parents and pupils.
What do we mean by diversity?
Diversity can mean the types of school or areas of provision the schools offer.
The OSC encourages all schools to consider Foundation and Trusts status. This enables schools to have the freedom to create their own ethos and brand, tailored to the local community.
Federations – an example of diversity
A federation is a formal agreement between schools to share governance arrangements and work together to raise standards and share best practice.
Support federations use this model to enable successful schools to work closely with weaker schools. This involves sharing knowledge and experience to drive up standards, as well as reaping other benefits such as pooled budgets, shared resources and services and improved Continuing Professional Development opportunities for staff in the schools concerned.
The Department has commissioned two studies to look at how federations can play their part in raising standards.
The ‘Federation Report’ and the ‘Replication Report’ detail how support federations gain the greatest results when the good school replicates its good practice at the weaker school in a positive and mutually beneficial relationship.
Download the Federations Report
Word Document (168kb)
PDF (132kb)
Download the Replication Report
Word Document
(110kb)
PDF (95kb)
Trust Schools
Trust Schools sit alongside federations and academies in the drive to raise standards. Through a trust, schools are able to build sustainable relationships with other schools and external partners, using their expertise to support their continued improvement.
Trust schools support collaboration between schools and the model is a flexible one, allowing schools the opportunity to create learning and working environments that are tailored to the needs of their pupils, staff and local communities.
Extended schools – an example of diversity
As a key way of delivering Every Child Matters, an extended school works with local providers to provide access to a core offer of extended services. This is a varied range of activities which will often be provided beyond the school day though not necessarily by teachers or on the school site.
One in five schools currently provide access to extended services in partnership with local providers; the aim is for all schools to be doing this by 2010.
A recent report shows extended schools lead to better results, particularly in disadvantaged areas. They are improving at twice the national average on the five good GCSEs measure - they are up by five per cent, compared to a 2.5 per cent increase in the national average over the same period.
