Specialist schools programme

The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme. At the end of the status there were nearly 3,000 specialist schools, which was fully 88% of the state-funded secondary schools in England. When the new Coalition government took power in May 2010 the scheme was ended and funding was absorbed into general school budgets.

The Education Reform Act 1988 introduced a new compulsory subject of Technology, but there were insufficient funds to equip all schools to teach the subject. A first attempt at developing centres of excellence, the City Technology College programme between 1988 and 1993, had produced only 15 schools. In 1994, the Conservative government, at the urging of Sir Cyril Taylor, designated 35 grant-maintained and voluntary aided schools as Technology Colleges. The schools were required to arrange private sponsorship of £100,000, and would then receive a matching government capital grant and increased recurrent funding. The following year the programme was opened to all maintained schools, and specialism in Languages was added. Specialisms in Arts and Sport were added in 1996.

As specialism implied diversity of schools, it was opposed by many supporters of comprehensive schools, including many in the Labour Party. Nevertheless, in 1997 the new Labour government, also encouraged by Sir Cyril Taylor, adopted the embryonic programme, and the number of specialist schools continued to grow. The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 made it possible for specialist schools to select up to 10% of their intake on aptitude in the existing specialisms in sport, the arts, modern languages and technology, though new selection for aptitude in technology was prohibited in 2008. However few have taken up this option.

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