Too many young people leave school with no qualifications, sometimes leading them towards crime and unemployment. These individual examples of disaffection, when multiplied across our inner cities and deprived rural areas, amount to a social failure we cannot afford. Education Action Zones will provide a dynamic framework within which schools in urban or rural areas can work together with parents, businesses, teachers, LEAs and community organisations. Businesses can provide leadership, or management expertise, or enter into radical new contracts to provide services. Parents can help ensure schools provide a high quality service, and that in return schools get the support they need from the community.
Every partner has something to offer.
Each zone will receive up to 1 million a year, of which the Government is committing up to 750,000, to demonstrate the importance it attaches to developing programmes that work to raise school standards. An action zone is a signal of a determination to achieve success. A zone can be in any area where schools can demonstrate a need for one. Such schools will typically be in areas of social deprivation, where the challenges are greatest and where excellent provision is particularly important. All Education Action Zones will exist for at least three years so that they have the time needed to make a real impact.