1.1.5 Education: Educational Policy

Question 1

Marketisation (policies)

Evaluation of New Labour policies

(2)

Answer 1

• Contradictory - you can’t create competition without inequality.
• EMAs help poorer pupils stay on post-16, but then they have to pay university fees.

Question 2

Marketisation (policies)

What are some new labour policies to reduce inequality?

(3)

Answer 2

• Educational Action zones
• Aim higher programmes
• Educational Maintenance Allowances for poorer 16-18 year olds.

Question 3

What is the myth of parentocracy?

Answer 3

Marketisation legitimises inequality by making it look as if all parents are equally free to choose a good school.

Question 4

Marketisation (policies)

What does Gerwirtz argue about parental choice?

Answer 4

• Identifies middle class, privileged-skilled chooserswith the economic and cultural capital to take advantage of the system.
• Working classdisconnected-local choosers who lack capital and have to settle for the nearest school.
• And ambitious working classsemi-skilled choosersfrustrated by their inability to get the school they wanted.

Question 5

Marketisation (policies)

How does the ‘funding formula’ reproduce inequalities?

Answer 5

• Schools are funded on how many pupils they recruit, so good schools get more money and can improve staffing and facillities, which then attracts more pupils…
• Whereas struggling schools get less money and fall further behind.

Question 6

Marketisation (policies)

How do league tables reproduce inequality?

Answer 6

League table allow schools to ‘cream skim‘the best (mainly middle class) pupils, whilst less sucessful schools end up with less able (usually lower class) pupils - ‘silt shifting’

Question 7

Marketisation (policies)

What is marketisation and parentocracy?

Answer 7

• Introducing consumer choice and competition.
• Established in 1988 education reform act

Question 8

Educational policy in Britain

What do marxists believe about the comprehensive system?

Answer 8

• Sees comprehensives as reproducing class inequalities through setting and streaming and labelling.
• They legitimate inequality by the ‘myth of meritocracy’, making it look like everyone has equal opportunities.

Question 9

Educational policy in Britain

What do functionalists believe about comprehensive schooling?

(2)

Answer 9

• It made the educational system more meritocratic as it removed the 11+ exam, giving students more time to develop.
• It promoted integration by bringing social classes together into one school.

Question 10

Educational policy in Britain

What was the comprehensive school and when was it introduced?

Answer 10

• The comprehensive system was introduced in1965
• It abolished the 11+ exam and all students went to the same comprehensive school.
• However, not all areas went comprehensive.

Question 11

Educational policy in Britain

Why wasn’t the tripartite system successful?

Answer 11

The tripartite system aimed to make education more meritocratic by allocating students based on their outcome in the 11+ exam, however, this exam just reproduced class inequalities and legitimised class inequality as working class pupils mostly went to the secondary modern school and middle class pupils the grammar school.

Question 12

Educational policy in Britain

What was the tripartite system and when was it introduced?

Answer 12

The triparite system was introduced in 1944.
It had two main types of secondary school - grammar schools and secondary modern schools.
Students were allocated schools by their results in the 11+ exam
It aimed to make education more meritocratic
Grammar schools were more acedemic and more middle class pupils went there.
Secondary modern schools were more practical and more working class pupils went there.

Question 13

Conservative policies since 2010

What did Beder find about the tescos voucher campaign?

Answer 13

UK families spent £110,000 pounds in tesco in return for a single computer.

Question 14

Conservative policies since 2010

What is cola-isation and what was the impact on schools? (conservative 2015 onwards)

Answer 14

• Cola-isation is the increase of brands intrerest in using schools for profits.
• E.g vending machines, logos, sponserships.
• Limited benefits for schools.

Question 15

Conservative policies since 2010

What is an academy and why was it pushed by coalition?

Answer 15

A private chain, funded by the state, without going through local authority.
Can have control over curriculum, and can increase marketisation, and cola-isation

Question 16

Conservative policies since 2010

By 2017, over … % of all secondary schools had converted to academy status. (2010 - 2015 coalition)

Answer 16

By 2017, over 68% of all secondary schools had converted to academy status.

Question 17

Conservative policies since 2010

What is Ball’s description of education since 2010?

Answer 17

Ball argues we now have a’fragmented patchwork’ instead of the comprehensive system, leading to greater inequality.