Education Act 1996

Courses leading to external qualifications

400 Courses leading to external qualifications

(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.

401 Power to extend section 400 to senior pupils and FE students

(1) The Secretary of State may by order direct that the provisions of section 400 shall have effect as if—

(a) any reference to pupils of compulsory school age included a reference to—

(i) senior pupils who are of or over that age, and

(ii) persons in full-time further education who are of or over that age but have not attained the age of 19 (referred to in this section as “FE students”);

(b) any reference to a maintained school (except in relation to a local education authority) included a reference to—

(i) any institution (other than a university or an institution within the higher education sector) which provides further education and is a grant-aided institution, and

(ii) any institution within the further education sector; and

(c) any reference to the head teacher of such a school included a reference to the principal or other head of such an institution.

(2) An order under this section may make such consequential modifications of section 359(1) as appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient.

(3) In relation to FE students in relation to whom section 400 has effect by virtue of an order under this section, section 408 shall have effect—

(a) with the modifications mentioned in subsection (1)(b) and (c) above;

(b) as if the information referred to in subsection (1)(a) of that section were information with respect to the following matters—

(i) the qualifications authenticated by outside persons (within the meaning of section 400) for which courses of study are to be provided by or on behalf of the institution concerned for such students;

(ii) the courses of study leading to such qualifications which are to be so provided;

(iii) the syllabuses which have been provided or determined for the purposes of those courses, and

(iv) the results of the assessments of such students for the purposes of those qualifications;

(c) as if in subsection (6)—

(i) the reference to the results of an individual pupil’s assessment (whether under this Part or otherwise) included a reference to the results of an individual student’s assessment for the purposes of any such qualification, and

(ii) any reference to the pupil concerned included a reference to the student concerned; and

(d) with the omission of subsections (1)(b), (2) and (3).

(4) Before making an order under this section the Secretary of State shall consult any persons with whom consultation appears to him to be desirable.

(5) For the purposes of this section an institution is at any time a grant-aided institution if it is maintained by persons who have received any grants under regulations made under section 485 in respect of expenditure incurred or to be incurred for the academic year of the institution current at that time.