INTRODUCTION
The statutory responsibility for the provision of education in the United Kingdom lies with the
Department for Education (DfE) (www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-
education) in England, the Welsh Assembly Government's Department for Education and Skills
(DfES) (http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills), the Education Department of the Scottish
Government (www.gov.scot/Topics/Education) and the Department of Education (DENI)
(www.education-ni.gov.uk) and the Department for the Economy (DfENI) (www.economy-
ni.gov.uk/), which is responsible for further and higher education, in Northern Ireland.
In the United Kingdom the statutory system of public education has three progressive stages:
primary education (up to the age ...