Specialist school
In the 1990s, the majority of breed schools were located in areas which were historically deprived, namely those with significant levels of migration.
[19] British specialist schools intend to act as centres of excellence in their specialism.
[28] In England, secondary specialist schools may select up to ten per cent of their yearly student intake for aptitude in their specialism provided that it includes either the performing arts, visual arts, physical education, sports or modern foreign languages.
[b] Passing the process gave designated schools specialist status in one of 10 or 15[c] available specialisms and an optional curricular rural dimension.
The reward for specialist status was a £100,000 government grant alongside an additional £129 in funding for every student enrolled to the school.
Re-designation brought with it the possibility of a second specialism and high performing specialist status; both of these would grant additional funding.
[32] The United Kingdom's specialist schools programme has attracted other countries toward specialisation.
[24] Schools that operate specialist education programs exist in all Australian states and territories.
[53] In the 1990s, the Chinese government addressed demands for a trained workforce by establishing selective specialist schools.
Schools can be designated with key status by meeting requirements in facility and teaching quality.
These were officially defined during the Meiji era in the ordinance of 1879 as a tertiary institution which taught one curricular subject.
This ordinance required the schools to seek approval from the Ministry of Education for their name, location, teaching staff, admission quotas, academic year, fees, curriculum and regulations, and those that failed to receive approval were closed down.
The ordinance also expanded the term specialist school to include Japan's prestigious Imperial Universities and also military academies, although both of these were put in a "special category" separate from the Senmon Gakkō and given different regulations to them.
[61] In modern Japan, the Senmon Gakkō are tertiary specialist schools for vocational education with two years of study.
[65][66] Students with high needs are defined as those with "significant physical, sensory, neurological, psychiatric, behavioural or intellectual impairment".
Day specialist schools teach years 1–13, with students allowed to attend until they reach the age of 21.
Residential specialist schools are for high needs students with a "slow rate of learning".
Places are offered only when a student has a Specialist Education Agreement or when their needs cannot be met by the schools in their local area.
[70] Specialist schools for mathematics and science have also opened to improve South Africa's educational standard in these subjects.
[71] Since 1987, the Government of Singapore's education policy has been based on diversifying curricular provision between its schools.
[72]: 164 There is a successful small tradition of specialized schools for particular curricular areas in the United States.
[81] Alternative schools are educational establishments with untraditional methods and curriculae, including a specialised curriculum.
