Specialist status is available to any maintained secondary school, and the Labour Government has frequently proclaimed its wish to see all secondary schools become Specialist Schools in time.

Bids for Specialist status are accepted by the DCSF in March and November each year. There are ten specialist areas: Arts, Business and Enterprise, Engineering, Humanities, Language, Mathematics and Computing, Music, Science, Sports and Technology. A school may be Specialist in respect of a maximum of two of these areas, and must apply separately for each designation.

The criteria a school must achieve to successfully bid for Specialist status are: present a four-year development plan, including targets and performance indicators relating to provision, increased take-up of specialist courses and improved learning outcomes, and to "extended provision"; to have raised £50,000 in private sector capital; and to demonstrate "at least reasonable" and preferably sustained high levels of attainment by pupils in the subject area designated for specialisation.

Specialist status entitles a school to access central government funds of £100,000 (per application) for capital projects to enhance the facilities for the specialism subject, and ongoing funding of £129 per pupil for four years (the lifetime of the development plan).

Under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, Specialist Schools are permitted to select up to 10 per cent of their pupil intake on the basis of "aptitude" for the specialism subject. At the time, then Education Minister Stephen Byers distinguished "aptitude" from ability by defining it as a question of potential rather than current capacity.

Although Specialist Schools share many features with the 15 City Technology Colleges established between 1987 and 1993, they differ from the latter in that they are all "maintained" (ie state) schools.

Although the recurring costs of CTCs are paid for by the DCSF, enabling them to charge no fees, they are organisationally "independent" (ie private) schools.

Background

The Specialist Schools Programme began in 1993, when the Conservative Government gave permission for grant-maintained and voluntary-aided schools to apply for "technology college" status.

In 1994, with the designation of the first 50 technology colleges, the SSP was opened up to all secondary schools and a new specialism of "language college" was announced. "Arts and sports colleges" were announced in 1996.

The incoming Labour government in 1997 announced that it would continue and expand the SSP, introducing the "community role" for Specialist Schools. The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 represented a key milestone in the development of the scheme, in cementing Labour's commitment to Specialist Schools and introducing the power to select pupils on the basis of aptitude.

In 2001, the Green Paper, "Schools: Building on Success" proposed four new specialisms - Science, Mathematics and Computing, Business and Enterprise, and Engineering. In February 2003, a further two specialisms were proposed, Music and Humanities, along with a rural subject option for rural schools.

The Government's target for 2000 schools to be given Specialist status by 2006 was achieved 18 months early in February 2005. By September 2008 that figure had risen to just under 2700 Specialist Schools.

Controversial

The principal objection raised against Specialist Schools relates to the perceived erosion of the principal of equality in school education that the Programme involves.

Supporters of the comprehensive principle in education oppose the scheme because of the inequality it entails, in designating some schools as apparently "superior" to others. Not only does the designation of Specialist Schools denigrate the work done by other schools, it is argued, but the provision of additional public funding is unfair.

Opponents claim that the Specialist Schools Programme's likely outcome is a "two tier" education system, with the best schools given extra funding - and as such, the ability to purchase better facilities and hire the best staff - and the worst deteriorating further. The Government's response to this criticism has been to proclaim a target of all secondary schools becoming specialist schools in time.

However, in the meantime, the scheme's critics also argue that Specialist Schools encourage segregation in education, insofar as the middle class parents who have long been best placed to ensure favourable outcomes from school admissions regimes will be able to get their children into the better schools, at the expense of those from poorer and socially excluded backgrounds.

The commitment to an element of selection contained in the 1998 Act has been exceptionally controversial, with many supporters of the comprehensive principle accusing the Government of seeking to reintroduce grammar school-style selection by the back door.

In these ways, Specialist Schools fit into the wider debate and controversies surrounding the Government's education policies, relating to the conflicting values of competition and choice as driving forces for improving standards, and equality of opportunity.

It is widely accepted, even by critics, that the Specialist Schools Programme has had a positive impact on educational attainment in participating schools. However, their impact on neighbouring schools and the wider community has not been studied in great detail to date.

Statistics

Specialist schools represent around 85% of all secondary schools.

Over 2.5 million students are now taught in Specialist schools – over half of all students attending secondary schools.

Every local education authority that has secondary schools has at least one specialist school.

Source: DCSF 2008

Of the 89 Specialist status awards made in January 2008, 17 were in Arts, 17 Special Educational Needs, 11 Mathematics and Computing, 10 in Sport, 8 Humanities, 7 Combined, 6 in Business and Enterprise, 5 Science, 2 Engineering, 2 Technology, 2 Music, and 2 in languages.

The schools will begin operating as Specialist schools from September 2008.

Including the 89 new schools, 2886 schools will be operating with specialist status from September 2008.

A total of 25 Local Authorities are now 100% specialist: Bath and NE Somerset, Blackpool, Brent, Bromley, Cornwall, Devon, Durham, Ealing, Gateshead, Harrow, Hartlepool, Herefordshire, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Middlesbrough, North Somerset, Plymouth, Rutland, Thurrock, Trafford, Wakefield, Walsall, West Berkshire, Wigan and York.

Source: DCSF press release - 31 January, 2008

Quotes

"There are still 343 secondary schools in England which have failed to achieve 'Specialist' status, and which are therefore not entitled to the central government grants which come with Specialist Status.

"In my view, it is wrong to bribe schools into making these types of changes, and every maintained school deserves consistent treatment in the way similar pupils are funded. But in this case, the implications of this unlevel playing field are even worse, because these schools come disproportionately from those with high levels of deprivation.

"So I want us to ensure that all secondary schools in England are automatically funded at the higher level which is granted to Specialist Schools. The costs would be minimal - £33m out of a budget of £70bn - but the effects for the poorest children would be profound.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg – June 2008

"Having specialist status is an excellent achievement.....Partnerships are at the heart of the specialist system and a vital ingredient in raising standards. We look forward to working with these schools to support them in building links with other schools and education institutions, businesses and the local community to the benefit of all students."

Elizabeth Reid, Chief Executive of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust – January 2008

"The Youth Sport Trust is particularly delighted that a further 10 schools have gained sports college status. They join a thriving network of schools that will be supported by us to continue to raise standards for all young people and will be critical to the ongoing success of the national sport strategy."

Dr Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust – January 2008