§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the new requirements(a) placed on and (b) removed from head teachers in the last year for which information is available. [52120]
§ Mr. TimmsThe main changes to requirements on head teachers made during 2001–02 are as follows:
During 2001–02, the right to mainstream education for children with special educational needs was strengthened. Where particular mainstream schools do not wish to 84W educate children with statements of SEN, they will have to show that the education of such children is incompatible with the provision of efficient education for other children, and that there are no reasonable steps they can take to prevent this incompatibility. The revised SEN Code of Practice has been designed to decrease bureaucracy while improving the SEN framework. The Code includes guidance on the new duty for head teachers to ensure that a Transition Plan is drawn up for pupils with statements of SEN in year nine of their schooling.
In 2001–02, head teachers prepared for the introduction of Consistent Financial Reporting, which will benefit all schools by improving the framework for benchmarking, as well as streamlining financial administration. Head teachers had to implement modest changes to target setting for Key Stage 4. They also had to process claims for the Welcome Back Bonus, an incentive to encourage teachers returning to the profession.
Administration of the Standards Fund was considerably simplified last year, so that head teachers and others had much less paperwork to contend with in securing additional funds for their schools. Moreover, for the first time it was possible to merge schools' annual reports with prospectuses, again freeing up valuable head teacher time.