Written question asked by Ashok Kumar (Labour) on Monday, 7 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 9 November 2005. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Tuesday, 15 November 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Education White Paper

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what role she expects local education authorities to fulfil in relation to (a) promoting, (b) monitoring and (c) commenting on personalised learning in schools in relation to the White Paper Higher Standards, Better Education for All.

Answer: We expect all local authorities in their new role as commissioners of education and under their duty to raise educational standards to be promoting and monitoring personalisation of learning to ensure that all schools meet the needs of parents and pupils in their area.Local authorities, through their National Strategies consultants and other school improvement staff, will play a vital role in promoting and spreading best practice about personalised learning to all their schools.Under the New Relationship with Schools, local authorities will have access to up-to-date and authoritative information to monitor and assess how their schools are serving all their pupils: from the pupil-level data now available; from the School Improvement Partners (SIPs) they employ; and from the more frequent school inspections conducted by Ofsted. Also, through the SIP—a nationally accredited expert, typically a head teacher—local authorities will be able to support, challenge and hold school accountable locally around personalised learning specifically, and continuous school improvement, more generally.

Secondary information