This Act may be cited as the Education Act 1997.

This Act shall be included in the list of Education Acts set out in section 578 of the M1Education Act 1996.

Subject to subsection (4), this Act shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint, and different days may be appointed for different provisions and for different purposes.

The following provisions come into force on the day on which this Act is passed—

• section 50,

• section 54,

• paragraph 48(2) of Schedule 7 and section 57(1) so far as relating thereto, and

• this section.

Subject to subsections (6) and (7), this Act extends to England and Wales only.

The following provisions extend to Northern Ireland—

• sections 21 and 22,

• section 24(4),

• section 26,

• sections 34 to 36,

• section 53,

• section 54,

• this section, and

• Schedule 4.

The amendment or repeal by this Act of an enactment extending to Scotland or Northern Ireland extends also to Scotland or, as the case may be, Northern Ireland.