One of the Government's key aims is to raise educational standards by encouraging schools to work together to share ideas and good practice. This could involve work on the curriculum but it might also include sharing and leadership across a number of schools, or a joint action to tackle inclusion issues.
The Education Act 2002 invoked provisions allowing schools to federate or collaborate from September 2003 onwards. On 25 May 2007 new federation and collaboration regulations came into effect and are available to view on the school standards website via the DfE federation and collaboration link on this page.
Federation
Under the terms of the Act, federations are groups of two or more schools with a joint governing body. Each of the schools retains their separate individual identity but their individual governing bodies are dissolved and a new joint instrument of governance establishes a single federated governing body in their place. All maintained schools may establish joint governing bodies. This arrangement is termed a 'hard' governance federation by the DfE because of the formal and binding commitments that are established.
Collaboration
The Act also provides for collaboration between schools, whereby the governing bodies of groups of maintained schools can meet or set up joint committees, including strategic committees, with delegated powers from the school’s individual governing bodies. The governing bodies may delegate any or all of their power to this committee but retain legal responsibility and corporate liability for all decisions taken on their behalf. This is termed a 'soft' governance federation.
Attached to this page is the latest information on collaboration and federation governance produced in January 2011, along with a paper giving answers to frequently asked questions which should be useful when exploring issues in relation to collaborative working or an alternative leadership model. A step by step guide to federation is also attached along with a paper giving information on financial issues arising from federation. Also attached is some useful guidance for Church schools produced by The Diocese of Lichfield.