What is an Education Improvement Partnership?
What documentation is available?
What are the funding arrangements?
Does funding from other sources need to be used for its stated purpose?
What functions can an Education Improvement Partnership take on?
How can Education Improvement Partnerships deliver the 14-19 agenda?
Will the proposals for EIPs require any new legislation?
Can Education Improvement Partnerships include Foundation Schools?
Who is responsible/accountable for the partnership?
What if a school refuses to join?
How can my school join an Education Improvement Partnership?
Can a school become a member of more than one EIP?
Must a school be in an existing partnership to be eligible to join?
My school is in a partnership, does that exclude it from joining an EIP?
Can more than one EIP be established per LEA?
Can EIP membership be formed involving schools across LEAs?
How many EIPs are there and how can I contact them?
Are Education Improvement Partnerships aimed at secondary schools only?
Is an Education Improvement Partnership able to employ staff?
Is there a limit on the number of schools in an EIP?
Where can I access good practice information and practical advice?

What is an Education Improvement Partnership?

Education Improvement Partnerships are one of the eight key reforms outlined in the Department’s Five Year Strategy.  The name “foundation partnership” proved unpopular with schools and existing partnerships, so we will in future refer to Education Improvement Partnerships.

EIPs will enable groups of schools to work together to raise standards and take on wider responsibilities for the children and young people in their local community.  They will allow existing and new partnerships to evolve to take responsibility for a range of functions and to be collectively accountable for delivery. Further detailed information is available from the EIP prospectus.

What documentation is available?
Education Improvement Partnerships – local collaboration for school improvement and better service delivery was published in March 2005. It is available for download at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/sie/si/educationimprovementpartnerships and can also be ordered in hard copy from the Online Publications for Schools website.

What are the funding arrangements?

No new funding has been earmarked for EIPs, but there are a number of possibilities for effective resourcing of EIPs:

• Where local authorities devolve functions to Education Improvement Partnerships, funding will follow those functions
• Individual schools have significant control over their budgets and can choose to pool a certain amount of funding for to deliver shared functions
• Additionally, there is money for partnership working already in the system: for example, Education Improvement Partnerships could draw on specialists school community funding (around £40,000 per school), or on money for Leading Edge partnerships (around £60,000 per partnership) or Primary Learning Networks (£19,000 for set up costs)
• A consultation on school funding was launched on 17 February this year: this proposes that schools could agree, through the Schools Forum, to their local authorities increasing the level of holdback for partnership working by top-slicing a proportion of the new Single Standards Grant.  This would ensure that partnership co-ordination could be supported

Does funding from other sources need to be used for its stated purpose?
Under the new Single Standards Grant for schools, grants such as those associated with Specialist Schools and Leading Edge will be rolled together into an amalgamated single grant.  Schools will have much more flexibility as to how they use this money.  They will be able, if they choose, to pool a certain amount of this funding for the purposes of partnership working.   The objectives of each of the specific programmes – e.g. Specialist schools – should still be met, however it is likely that they may be met through partnership working.  So schools will be able to point to the collaborative work they are doing in their EIP to show how they are delivering on the objectives for the individual programmes.

What functions can an Education Improvement Partnership take on?

An EIP can take on a range of different functions, many of which will be associated with one of the following areas:

• Raising attainment
• Improving behaviour and attendance
• Childcare and extended service
• Workforce reform and professional development

Education Improvement Partnerships will have greater autonomy and strong interdependent accountability for a range of functions. Partnerships of schools would lead on school improvement and could take on collective responsibility for admissions, they might also undertake initial teacher training and deliver continuing professional development across the group. They may also decide to share resources such as AST teams, IT technicians, bursars and City Learning Centres.  The partnership might also deliver extended services and SEN provision and work together to deliver a broad 14-19 curriculum.

How can Education Improvement Partnerships deliver the 14-19 agenda?

Collaboration between schools, colleges, Centres for Vocational Excellence and work-based training providers can provide the resources and access to services to offer the full range of services that the 14-19 reform requires.  This provides young people with greater choice in what and where they can study.

Education Improvement Partnerships will have an important role in promoting and embedding collaborative working in order to deliver 14-19 education and training. Collaboration is key to providing a more coherent phase of 14-19 learning. No single institution is in a position to provide the wide range of general and specialist courses and qualifications that will be needed.

Education Improvement Partnerships which comprise, for example, schools, colleges, training providers, employers and higher education institutions will need to collaborate to offer young people the choices to meet their aptitudes and aspirations. In most areas, collaboration among institutions will be the only cost-effective way to provide curriculum breadth, whilst maintaining choice and diversity in learning environment.

Will the proposals for EIPs require any new legislation?

No. There is no need for new legislation. If groups of schools want to make their partnerships more formal, we already have regulations which cover federations, collaborations, and school companies; we also have the Power to Innovate.

There may be links to new legislation covering changes to Children’s Services, details of which are currently being worked through.

Can Education Improvement Partnerships include Foundation Schools?
Yes. Education Improvement Partnerships may include Foundation Schools. Indeed, depending on the shared function being delivered by the partnership, we would expect them to include all local education providers serving the particular geographic community.

Who is responsible/accountable for the partnership?
Service level agreements (SLAs) or protocols between the local authority and the partnership should set out the 'rules' where delivery of services have been devolved to the partnership.  The group of schools will be collectively accountable for delivering services and meeting defined targets.

What if a school refuses to join?

• Education Improvement Partnerships are not compulsory: they arise out of a recognition that some progressive partnerships and LEAs are moving in this direction already
• However, inclusiveness is one of the key criteria of an Education Improvement Partnership.  All education providers in a particular area should be involved
• School Improvement Partners (SIPs) will challenge each school about the effectiveness of its work.  Within this, SIPs will look at the contribution each school is making to the wider community of schools: one of the ways in which SIPs will expect schools to be making this contribution is by working in partnership with other schools.  If they are not doing this, the SIP will be in a position to challenge them on their failure to do so
• Local Authorities will need to find solutions to local problems, and where partnership working offers a good solution, local authorities will expect all schools to work together

How can my school join an Education Improvement Partnership?
Schools will need to speak to their LEA to find out about their nearest EIP, where one already exists.  Where there is no EIP already in existence, groups of schools that are interested should approach their LEA for guidance about how an EIP can be established and what functions it might take on. 

Can a school become a member of more than one EIP?

Yes.  A school may benefit from joining more than one EIP if they assess their need as such.  For example, the school may by joining more than one EIP to collaborate on and strengthen two different areas such as behaviour and the provision of extended services.  This kind of decision would need to be made at local level.

Must a school be in an existing partnership to be eligible to join?
No.  EIPs are open to all schools and we would particularly encourage those not already in partnerships to join.

My school is in a partnership, does that exclude it from joining an EIP?
No.  If a school is already in a partnership it is not excluded from joining an EIP.  Schools in existing partnerships will have much to offer an EIP by way of experience in collaborative working. 

Can more than one EIP be established per LEA?
Yes.  An LEA may establish as many EIPs as required.  The LEA may wish to create an authority wide partnership which could then be split into smaller sub-groups enabling each one to focus on different issues.

Can EIP membership be formed involving schools across LEAs?
Yes.  The make up of schools in an EIP is dependent on local need and schools may want to collaborate with those from neighbouring LEAs, learning from those with greater knowledge and expertise in a given area.

How many EIPs are there and how can I contact them?
To find out about the location of EIPs please contact individual Local Education Authorities; contact details can be obtained from the LEA Gateway website.

Are Education Improvement Partnerships aimed at secondary schools only?
No.  The composition of an EIP will depend on local need, but we expect partnerships to be able provide for children and young people from 0-19, so it will be very advantageous for primary schools to be in EIPs.

Is an Education Improvement Partnership able to employ staff?
No, as the EIP is not a legal entity.  A school or LEA could employ staff as a shared resource amongst member schools.  If the EIP decides to form a joint school company then the company would be in a position to employ staff.

Is there a limit on the number of schools in an EIP?
No, although based on the Excellence Cluster model and Leadership Incentive Grant collaboratives we have found that between 5 and 30 schools is a workable size.  The number of schools in an EIP should however be a local decision.

Where can I access good practice information and practical advice?
Please see the case studies section on the Education Improvement Partnerships website or email educationimprovement.partnerships@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk.