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Education and skills

Spanning the full spectrum of education and skills, the NAO covers the responsibilities of two government departments - Education and Business, Innovation and Skills. We audit the accounts of both departments, and also examine the sector as a whole.

Our ability to gain wide-ranging insights and produce practical recommendations is widely valued by educational practitioners. Our work is designed to provide assurance on whether the billions of pounds of public money are spent objectively and achieve the maximum benefit.

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Advice, guidance and tools

In addition to formal reports to Parliament, we also produce a range of other outputs from our financial audit and VFM work. Examples include:

Departmental Overview: A summary of the NAO's work on the Department for Education 2010-2011

September 2011

This Departmental Overview is one of 17 we have produced covering our work on each major government department.

Departmental Overview 2010-2011

Department for Education. Raising the participation age: an assessment of the cost-benefit analysis

July 2011

This memorandum examines the Department for Education’s cost-benefit analysis for the Government’s policy to require young people to continue participating in education and training until the age of 18.

Raising the participation age

Improving school performance: A guide for school governors

May 2009

In collaboration with the National Governors Association, the National Audit Office has updated its well-received guide for school governors. The guide was first published in May 2006 alongside our value for money report on Improving poorly performing schools. It is intended to help both new and experienced primary and secondary school governors, as well as school leaders, identify and tackle the issues important to their schools' organisation and performance.

The refreshed guide has received Plain English Campaign's Crystal Mark for clarity and provides up-to-date information, including findings from the NAO's more recent work on education topics, of relevance to governors and school leaders. This work includes our reports on primary mathematics performance, the 14 to 19 curriculum, financial management in the schools' sector, and the national school building and refurbishment programme.

The guide is divided into 13 themes. Each theme sets out: important questions for governing bodies; facts and figures that give an insight into what's happening across the country; and sources of further information and good practice.

We and the National Governors' Association hope that this guide is useful for you. We want to hear how useful you found it, so please send us your response electronically at www.nao.org.uk/governorsfeedback.

If you are unable to send a response electronically please send your written comments using the form on the last page. Please send filled-in forms to: Jonathan Mackay, National Audit Office, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria, London, SW1W 9SP.

Improving School Performance: A Guide for School Governors (PDF - 365KB)