Education Act 1994
| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An Act to make provision about teacher training and related matters; to make provision with respect to the conduct of students’ unions; and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 1994 c. 30 |
| Territorial extent |
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| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 21 July 1994 |
| Commencement |
|
| Repealed | 1 September 2005 (sections 1-11 & 12-17) |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | |
| Amended by |
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| Repealed by | Education Act 2005 (sections 1-11 & 12-17) |
Status: Partially repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
| Text of the Education Act 1994 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |
The Education Act 1994 (c. 30) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom under John Major's government in 1994, which primarily established the Teacher Training Agency and allowed students to opt out of students' unions.[1]
Provisions
Part I
Part I relates to teacher training and includes the establishment of the Teacher Training Agency.[2]
Section (1) of the Act mentioned the main objectives of establishing the agency, all of which were aimed at raising the level of education. The remaining sections of this Part focus on governance and the details of funding.[1]
Part II
Part II of the act gave effect to students' freedom of association by mandating that students must be permitted to opt out of any students' union without being unfairly disadvantaged; this provision replaced an earlier proposal that would have made membership voluntary (i.e. opt-in), which had been seen to have a significant impact on membership of students' unions in Australia and was expected to have a similar impact in the UK.[3] This Part also places further restrictions on Students' Unions by requiring that affiliation to external organizations must be voted on at referendum if 5% of the membership requests a referendum and restricts the time a sabbatical officer can serve to two years. It also stipulates that a students' union must be governed democratically and must be accountable for its finances.[4]
There are various other clauses about the finances and external affiliations of students' unions.
Section 22 of the acts requires that "the procedure for allocating resources to groups or clubs should be fair and should be set down in writing and freely accessible to all students". This has generated some controversy because of the way it can be interpreted. Some assert that it requires all university societies that draw on students' union funding to be open to membership by all students, whilst others assert that this does not explicitly prevent a society of a students' union from restricting its membership to those who share the aims and purposes of the society.
Notes
References
- 1 2 "Education Act 1994" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk.
- ↑ "Records of the Teacher Training Agency and Successors". The National Archives. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
- ↑ Alex Bols (26 June 2014). "The 1994 Education Act and students' unions". WONKHE. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- ↑ "1994 Education Act".
External links
- Text of the Education Act 1994 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
- Text of the Education Act 1994 as originally enacted or made within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
- BBC news - Ban for exclusive Christian body