We reflect on the legislative journey of education reforms in England from the Second World War to the present day.
Education Act 1944 (Butler Act)
Established the foundation of modern British education with free secondary education for all, the tripartite system (grammar, technical, and secondary modern schools), and raised the school leaving age to 15.
Education Act 1976
Labour’s attempt to require local authorities to submit plans for comprehensive reorganization, effectively ending the 11-plus system in most areas and promoting comprehensive schools over selective grammar schools.
Education Reform Act 1988
The most significant education legislation since 1944. Introduced the National Curriculum, standardized testing (SATs), league tables, and allowed schools to opt out of local authority control to become grant-maintained schools. Also established the principle of parental choice and school competition.
Education Act 1993
Created the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and established a unified inspection system for schools. Also introduced nursery vouchers and strengthened provisions for children with special educational needs.
School Standards and Framework Act 1998
New Labour’s major reform that abolished grant-maintained schools, created foundation schools, and introduced literacy and numeracy strategies. Established statutory school improvement targets and performance tables.
Learning and Skills Act 2000
Created Learning and Skills Councils, established the right to paid time off for study or training for 16-17 year olds, and reformed post-16 education funding and organization.
Education Act 2002
Extended the National Curriculum to foundation stage (ages 3-5), gave schools more flexibility in curriculum delivery, and introduced workforce remodeling to reduce teacher workload.
Children Act 2004
Established the Every Child Matters agenda, requiring local authorities to integrate children’s services and focus on five key outcomes: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution, and achieving economic wellbeing.
Education and Inspections Act 2006
Allowed for the creation of trust schools, strengthened school improvement powers, and required local authorities to promote diversity and choice in school provision.
Academies Act 2010
Revolutionary legislation that allowed all schools to become academies, removing them from local authority control. Outstanding schools could fast-track to academy status, fundamentally changing the education landscape.
Children and Families Act 2014
Reformed special educational needs provision, replacing statements with Education, Health and Care Plans, and extending support to age 25. Introduced the special educational needs and disability (SEND) Code of Practice.
Education and Adoption Act 2016
Accelerated the academization process by requiring failing schools to become sponsored academies and gave the Secretary of State powers to force good or outstanding schools to become sponsors.
Children and Social Work Act 2017
Introduced the pupil premium for disadvantaged children, strengthened safeguarding duties, and reformed social work education and regulation.
These acts collectively transformed UK education from a locally controlled, largely comprehensive system into a more centralized, market-driven landscape dominated by academies, standardized testing, and school choice policies. The trend has been toward greater central government control over curriculum and standards while simultaneously removing schools from local democratic oversight.
Education Legislation in England Since 2017: A Summary
Major Acts Passed Since 2017
further education. This Act established the Office for Students (OfS) as the higher education regulator and created the UK Research and Innovation framework.
Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 The Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 (sometimes referred to as the Skills Act) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom relating to post-16 education in England. Key provisions include:
- Introduction of local skills improvement plans to address skills shortages
- Introduction of the “lifelong loan entitlement” system to support adult learners
- Removal of the “equivalent and lower level funding rule” which had prohibited higher level course funding at or below a level a learner is qualified at already
Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that imposes requirements for universities and students’ unions to protect freedom of speech. The Act:
- Allows speakers to seek compensation for no-platforming through a new statutory tort, empowers the Office for Students to levy fines on infringing institutions, and establishes a new ombudsman or “free speech champion”
- Received royal assent on 11 May 2023
However, the government announced in January 2025 that key provisions of the Act will be brought into force whilst burdensome provisions will be scrapped, including removing the statutory tort that would have exposed universities to potentially costly legal disputes.
Key Policy Changes and Reforms
Relationships and Sex Education (2020) The legal requirement for Relationships and Sex Education came into force on 1 September 2020, with statutory health education in schools also introduced as part of the reforms.
Safeguarding Updates The “Keeping Children Safe in Education” guidance has been regularly updated since 2017, with changes reflecting mandatory Relationship Education, Relationship and Sex Education and Health Education from September 2020, as well as additional information on mental health, domestic abuse, child criminal and sexual exploitation and county lines.
The Latest Bill: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill 2024-25
improve the safeguarding of children (such as in care institutions and schools) and to raise educational standards.
Key Provisions Include:
School-Related Measures:
- Breakfast clubs to be available before school begins at all state-funded primary schools in England, and ensure that the existing school food standards apply to all state-funded schools, including at breakfast
- Set limits on the number of branded items state-funded schools may require as part of their uniform, building on measures to reduce uniform costs introduced in 2021
Home Education Registration:
- Require children to be registered with the local authority when they are being educated outside of school for some or all of the time, such as through home education
- Similar measures have been proposed in the past, including by the previous Conservative government, and have proven controversial
Academy School Reforms:
- The bill would make very significant and wide-ranging changes to academy schools and the rules they have to follow, essentially ‘rolling back’ many of the freedoms these schools were given when the current academy framework was established
- Restore local authorities’ powers to propose new maintained schools, although opening an academy would still be an option
Teacher Regulation:
- Make changes to the regulatory regime for teachers, following concerns that some teachers may ‘fall through the gaps’ and be allowed to carry on teaching in the future, despite having potentially engaged in serious misconduct
- Extend the current law to teachers in a wider range of settings, such as further education colleges
Independent Schools:
- Expand the regulation of independent educational institutions that provide all or a majority of a child’s education and strengthen Ofsted’s powers to investigate unregistered, and therefore illegal, independent schools
This legislation represents the most comprehensive education reform package since 2017, addressing both safeguarding concerns and educational standards while significantly altering the academy system that has been central to English education policy for over a decade.