As part of my on-going research into international school governance models I’ve copied the following from School Autonomy in England. It sets out the the main distinguishing features of the different legal categories of schools in England as follows:
Community Schools
· do not own land and buildings (these are owned by the local authority)
· receive recurrent funding through the LA
· receive funding for capital projects at 100 per cent
· have a governing body in which no group has an overall majority
· are not the legal employers of their staff (staff are employed by the LA)
· do not have primary responsibility for admissions (the LA has responsibility)
· must provide the National Curriculum
· may not have a religious character and must follow the locally agreed religious
education syllabus.
Foundation Schools
· may or may not be supported by a charitable foundation
· may own their land and buildings (if not, these are owned by a charitable foundation)
· receive recurrent funding through the local authority
· receive funding for capital projects at 100 per cent
· have a governing body in which no group has an overall majority, although different
arrangements may apply to foundation schools which are also Trust Schools
· are the legal employers of their staff, but teachers’ pay and conditions are bound by a
national framework
· have primary responsibility for admissions but must follow the School Admissions
Code
· must provide the National Curriculum
· may or may not have a religious character; if not, must follow the locally agreed
religious education syllabus for the area.
Trust Schools (from September 2007)
· are foundation schools (as above) supported by a charitable foundation or trust
· have a governing body in which the trust appoints either a minority or a majority of
the governors; the decision as to which model to follow rests with the existing
governing body of the school seeking trust status
· will form the majority of new schools according to current government expectations.
Voluntary Controlled (VC) Schools
· do not own their land and buildings (these are normally owned by a charitable
foundation)
· receive their recurrent funding through the LA
· are funded for capital projects at 100 per cent
· have a governing body in which the foundation governors form one group on the
governing body, but no group has a majority
· are not the legal employers of their staff (staff are employed by the LA)
· do not have primary responsibility for admissions (the LA has responsibility)
· must provide the National Curriculum
· have, in most cases, a religious character; if not, religious education must follow the
locally agreed syllabus for the area.
Voluntary Aided (VA) Schools
· do not own their land and buildings (these are owned by a charitable foundation)
· receive their recurrent funding through the LA
· are funded for capital projects but not at 100 per cent; must contribute a minimum of
10 per cent of costs
· have a governing body in which the foundation governors, that is those representing
the church, faith group or other trust, have an absolute majority over all other groups
of governor
· are the legal employers of their staff but teachers’ pay and conditions are bound by a
national framework
· have primary responsibility for admissions but must follow the School Admissions
Code
· must provide the National Curriculum
· have, in most cases, a religious character; if not, religious education must follow the
locally agreed syllabus for the area.
City Technology Colleges (CTCs)
· are legally independent schools
· are supported by sponsors which constitute an educational trust and own or lease the
college
· receive recurrent funding through a funding agreement with the Secretary of State20
· receive funding for capital projects but not at 100 per cent; 20 per cent of the initial
capital cost was paid by private sector sponsors who continue to contribute 20 per cent
towards all capital projects
· are legal employers of their staff and set their own pay and conditions for teachers
· have primary responsibility for admissions and may select those applicants who are
most likely to benefit from the emphasis on science and technology; although they are
not bound by the School Admissions Code they are prohibited by their funding
agreements from selecting by general academic ability
· are not bound by the National Curriculum programmes of study, but are required to
provide a broad and balanced curriculum with an emphasis on science and technology,
and to teach the subjects of the National Curriculum
· are now being encouraged by the Government to convert to Academies.
Academies
· are legally independent schools, usually established as a charitable company limited
by guarantee; this charitable company, often referred to as the Academy Trust, is
incorporated with the sole intent of running one or more Academies
· are usually secondary schools but some Academies are all-through schools for threeto
19-year-olds
· own their own land and buildings
· are supported by sponsors who provide around 10 per cent of the initial capital costs,
up to a cap of around £2 million
· receive recurrent funding from the DCSF on a comparable basis to other schools
within the same area; there is no requirement for a sponsor to contribute
· are, as a charitable company, the legal employer of their staff and responsible for
establishing teachers’ pay and conditions
· have a governing body whose members are the directors of the company constituted
under the Memorandum and Articles of the Academy Trust
· have a subject specialism
· are not bound by the National Curriculum
· have primary responsibility for admissions but are bound by the School Admissions
Code
· are prohibited by their funding agreement from selecting by high academic ability
· may or may not have a religious character; the funding agreement specifies
requirements for religious education that parallel the requirements for maintained
schools
· are increasing in number towards the Government’s target of 400; there were 83 in
operation in October 2007.
Some particular types of maintained school, based on categorisations that cut across the legal categories of maintained school, are listed below.
Specialist schools
· are secondary schools belonging to any legal category
· may or may not have a religious character
· must raise £50,000 in sponsorship (£20,000 for the smallest schools) and receive
additional government funding
· have a special focus on their chosen specialist subject area: arts, business and
enterprise, engineering, humanities, language, mathematics & computing, music,
science, sports and technology, or they may combine any two specialisms
· are expected to establish a distinct identity through their chosen specialism while still
providing the National Curriculum
· may select up to 10 per cent of their intake by aptitude for the specialist area, but not
by general academic ability (unless a designated grammar school).
Faith schools
· are designated by the Secretary of State as having a religious character
· may be either a foundation or a voluntary (aided or controlled) school, but not a
community school
· are most commonly associated with the Church of England or the Roman Catholic
Church, although there are now a small but increasing number of publicly funded
Muslim, Sikh and Jewish schools
· if oversubscribed, may give priority for admissions to children who are members of,
or who practise, their faith or denomination
· are exempt from the locally agreed syllabus for religious education – religious
education is provided in accordance with the school’s trust deed or in accordance with
the beliefs of the designated religion or denomination.
Grammar schools
· are secondary schools belonging to any legal category
· may or may not be a faith school
· may or may not have a subject specialism
· may select pupils for general academic ability and may leave places unfilled if there
are insufficient applicants of the required ability. Ability is usually assessed
Multilingual Britain
The miracle of human variety is in danger of disappearing, if all of us speak alike, dress alike, eat the same food, read the same fiction and enjoy the same music. It would be a great loss to our colourful planet. Public sector needs a multilingual work force. Teachers and police officers can help with race relations in the classroom and in the community. Public sector is seeking multilingual recruits to serve multicultural Britain. The ability to speak languages from Arabic to Urdu is considered to be an asset. Linguistic skills, in addition to the usual entry criteria, will boost the number of recruits in teaching, police, medicine, nursing and the civil service. Bilingual teachers, police officers, doctors and nurses are in a better position to serve the bilingual Muslim community. The language system has been used successfully in the United States. Mary Doherty at TTA, points out those bilingual teachers can be particularly welcome in state schools for bilingual pupils. Various studies show that bilingualism increases overall intelligence. Monolingualism leads to isolationist and inward thinking.
Exposure to different languages and cultures can increase tolerance. Language learning in childhood lays the foundations for developing real fluency in that language. Every child should have the opportunity to study a foreign language and develop their interest in the culture of other nations. Languages can be seen as an important way of putting more fun into primary learning and of broadening the children experience. Learning a second language boosts your intellectual powers by physically increasing the number of nerve cells in the language centres of the brain. A study at University College London shows that the brains of bilingual people are structurally enhanced compared to the brains of people who can only speak one language. The effect is even more marked in people who learnt a second language before they were five. Speaking a second language is like having access to another world. No other subject expands mental horizons in the same way. In an ordinary inner city school in England, nearly 100 languages are spoken, yet still essentially this is still a monolingual nation. London is the most multicultural city in the world with over 300 languages spoken everyday.
Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual teachers as role models during their developmental periods. All state schools where Muslim pupils are the majority should be designated as Muslim community schools. They are in a better position to provide balanced education by teaching the National Curriculum along with Arabic, Islamic studies, Urdu and other community languages. An Islamic atmosphere will help to develop Islamic Identity crucial for mental, emotional and personality development.
Iftikhar Ahmad