The Education Act 2011 (c. 21) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was the first major piece of education legislation to be introduced by the coalition government, and makes changes to many areas of educational policy, including the power of school staff to discipline students, the manner in which newly trained teachers are supervised, the regulation of qualifications, the administration of local authority maintained schools, academies, the provision of post-16 education, including vocational apprenticeships, and student finance for higher education. The Act also brought about the abolition of the General Teaching Council for England, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and the Training and Development Agency for Schools, amongst other bodies. The Act is divided into ten parts, and comprises 83 Sections and 18 Schedules. Parliamentary passage The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, introduced the Education Bill to the House of Commons on 26 January 2011 when it also received its first reading. Two weeks later, on 8 February 2011, the Commons debated the general principles of the Bill before passing it at second reading, before committing it to a public bill committee to be scrutinised in depth by a select, cross party group of MPs. The committee stage lasted 11 days throughout March and the beginning of April, before returning to the main floor of the Commons on 11 May 2011, where consideration at report stage was completed alongside its third reading, thus completing its passage through the lower house. The bill as passed by the Commons was introduced to the House of Lords the following day, before receiving its second reading following a debate on 14 June. It was sent to a grand committee of all peers for detailed scrutiny, which sat for eight days before the summer recess of Parliament, and for three days afterwards, before returning for four days of report stage scrutiny in the Lords chamber. It passed its third reading, and thus passed the House of Lords, on 9 November, when it was returned to the Commons to obtain agreement to the various amendments to the bill made during its passage through the upper house. The Commons accepted all of the Lords' amendments without further amendment after debate on 14 November, allowing it to receive royal assent and become an Act of Parliament the following day. Provisions The Act is divided into 10 distinct parts, each of