ABSTRACT
Policies to give more autonomy to schools working in partnership with business and communities have been introduced in the past decade. These initiatives included Education Action Zones (EAZ), the Excellence in Cities (EiC) project and Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (www.specialistschools.org.uk). The EAZ and EiC projects were introduced with the explicit dual brief of raising educational achievement and promoting social inclusion in disadvantaged areas. The intention was to draw in additional private sector funding to support the integration of school, business and community facilities for the greater good of all pupils and the whole community. EAZs in particular were established following a bidding process by a partnership made up of schools, local authorities and businesses and other organisations. The success of these zones was varied, but worthy of celebration has been the setting up of some strong partnerships between schools and businesses. Ofsted (2003) note that the success in addressing disaffection has been greater than that in raising achievement. The EiCs project followed the EAZs and removed the need for schools to bid in partnership with other parties, but the project was designed to operate alongside other initiatives to support regeneration in areas of deprivation. The most notable success of the EiCs has been the establishment of the role of learning mentors to work with underachieving pupils. You can read more about these two initiatives in Oftsed (2003) ‘Excellence in Cities and Education Action Zones: Management and Impact’.
