School Partnerships and Cooperation inquiry terms of reference
13 March 2013
The Education Committee today announces an inquiry into school partnerships and cooperation.
Call for evidence
Submissions of written evidence are invited, considering the following points:
- the differing forms of school partnership and cooperation, and whether they have particular advantages and disadvantages;
- how highly performing schools could better be encouraged to cooperate with others;
- whether schools have sufficient incentives to form meaningful and lasting relationships with other schools;
- if and how the potential tension between school partnership and cooperation, and school choice and competition can be resolved;
- whether converter academies’ requirements to support other schools, included in their funding agreements, are sufficient and are effectively policed;
- whether academies sponsored by another school receive sufficient support from their sponsor;
- whether school partnerships drive effective school improvement;
- whether there are any additional upsides or downsides for highly performing schools supporting others through partnerships.
Deadline
The Committee asks for written submissions in accordance with the guidelines below by midday on Friday 17 May 2013.
Submitting written evidence
Submissions of written evidence should be submitted via the online web portal on the Committee’s website:
Guidance on written evidence
Submissions should a self-contained memorandum in Word or Rich Text Format (not pdfs). Submissions must state clearly who the submission is from e.g. ‘written evidence submitted by xxxx’ and be no more than 3,000 words. Where possible the submission should begin with a short summary and have numbered paragraphs.
Committees publish most of the written evidence they receive on the internet (where it will be accessible to search engines); any that relates to a witness’s oral evidence may also be printed with the committee’s report at the end of an inquiry.
If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so and explain your reasons for not wishing its disclosure. The committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish the evidence. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the committee, please contact the clerk of the committee to discuss this.
A committee is not obliged to accept your submission as evidence, nor to publish any or all of the submission even if it has been accepted as evidence.
Committees do not normally investigate individual cases of complaint or allegations of maladministration.
Detailed guidance and data protection
Detailed guidance on giving evidence and data protection is available: