3.3 1997 White Paper Excellence in Schools

The new government's education policies were set out in the white paper Excellence in Schools, published in July 1997.

It proposed that:

• secondary schools would be encouraged to become 'specialist schools' which would be allowed to select a small proportion of their pupils on the basis of 'perceived aptitudes';

• class sizes for five, six and seven year olds were to be reduced to 30 or under. Funding would be provided to enable LEAs to meet this target;

• at least an hour a day in primary schools would be spent on English and an hour on maths. (The National Literacy Strategy was introduced in September 1998, the National Numeracy Strategy in September 1999);

• schools were to have targets for raising standards. School performance tables would show the rate of progress pupils had made as well as their absolute levels of achievement;

• achievements of ethnic minority pupils were to be raised and racial harmony promoted;

• special educational needs were to be an integral part of the wider programme for raising standards;

• there would be better support in schools for pupils with behaviour problems;

• secondary schools were to use innovative approaches and mixed ability teaching where effective, but setting was recommended, particularly for science, maths and languages. Schools were to tell parents about their pupil grouping policies;

• there would be more family learning schemes where parents and their children could learn together. (Family Literacy courses started in more than 60 LEAs in September 1997);

• there would be national guidelines for homework and after-school homework centres;

• Education Action Zones would be set up to provide targeted support in deprived areas;

• there would be better support for newly qualified teachers and better training for existing teachers focusing on literacy, numeracy and IT; and

• there would be a national training scheme for existing and new head teachers.

The white paper made it clear that the Conservative policy of 'selection by specialisation' would be pursued. It said 'We will ensure that schools with a specialism will continue to be able to give priority to those children who demonstrate the relevant aptitude, as long as that is not misused to select on the basis of general academic ability'. The government's aim was to have 500 specialist schools open by September 2000 and 650 a year later.

Of comprehensive schools, the white paper said:

The demands for equality and increased opportunity in the 1950s and 1960s led to the introduction of comprehensive schools. All-in secondary schooling rightly became the normal pattern, but the search for equality of opportunity in some cases became a tendency to uniformity. The idea that all children had the same rights to develop their abilities led too easily to the doctrine that all had the same ability. The pursuit of excellence was too often equated with elitism.

With regard to grammar schools, the white paper argued that 'local parents have an interest in decisions on whether their selective admissions arrangements should continue. Changes in the admissions policies of grammar schools will be decided by local parents, and not by LEAs'.

1998 School Standards and Framework Act

The white paper's proposals were implemented in the School Standards and Framework Act (24 July 1998) which:

• allowed maintained secondary schools to 'make provision for the selection of pupils for admission to the school by reference to their aptitude for one of more prescribed subjects';

• defined the responsibilities of LEAs and gave the secretary of state powers to ensure that they fulfilled them;

• empowered LEAs and the secretary of state to intervene in schools judged to be 'failing' by Ofsted - such schools would be given two years to improve or they would be closed or have radical management changes imposed on them;

• set out a new framework for schools (to be implemented from 2000) with community schools replacing county schools and foundation schools replacing GM schools. Voluntary schools (mostly the church schools) would stay the same.