(1)No course of study leading to a qualification authenticated by an outside person shall be provided for pupils of compulsory school age by or on behalf of a maintained school unless—
(a)the qualification is for the time being approved by the Secretary of State or by a designated body, and
(b)subsection (2) is satisfied.
(2)This subsection is satisfied if either—
(a)a syllabus provided by the outside person for the purposes of the course is for the time being approved by a designated body, or
(b)criteria provided by the outside person for determining a syllabus for the purposes of the course are for the time being so approved.
(3)An approval under this section may be given either generally or in relation to particular cases.
(4)In relation to any maintained school—
(a)the local education authority and the governing body shall exercise their functions with a view to securing, and
(b)the head teacher shall secure,
that subsection (1) is not contravened.
(5)In this section—
“designated” means designated by the Secretary of State, and
“outside person”, in relation to a school, means a person other than a member of staff of the school.