more effective and accessible services focused around the needs of children, young people and families. In January 2007 Education Secretary Alan Johnson announced plans to extend the school leaving age in England to eighteen by 2013. This would raise the leaving age for the first time since 1972, when compulsory education was extended to sixteen. The changes included apprenticeships and work based training in addition to continued academic learning. This became law through the Education and Skills Act 2008, with the school leaving age raised to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015. Cameron premiership 2010 – 2016 The Academies Act 2010, one of the first government bills introduced in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition government, allowed publicly funded schools in England to become academies, still publicly funded but with a vastly increased degree of autonomy in issues such as setting teachers' wages and diverging from the National Curriculum. This also led to various mergers between schools into much larger Academies. The Education Act 2011 made 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. It abolished the General Teaching Council for England, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and the Training and Development Agency for Schools and other bodies. In 2013 the Education and Skills Act 2008 came into force, requiring all young people in England to stay on in education or training at least part-time until they are 17 years old, with this extended to 18 years in 2015. Academic qualifications Alongside vocational qualifications such as GNVQs and BTECs, there have been numerous examinations and qualifications in secondary education in England. See also Public school (United Kingdom) List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom Armorial of UK schools References Further reading Aldrich, Richard, Dennis Dean, and Peter Gordon. Education and policy in England in the twentieth century (1991). excerpt Barker, R. Education and Politics 1900-1951 (1972). online Barnard, H.C. A History of English Education (1961) online. Best, G. F. A. "The Religious Difficulties of National Education in England, 1800-70." Cambridge Historical Journal 12#2 (1956): 155–73. online. Birchenough, Charles. History of Elementary Education in England and Wales from 1800 to the Present Day (1920)