Educational Policy Flashcards
What did the 1944 Education/Butler Act bring in?
The tripartite system
-Grammar schools
-Secondary Modern Schools
-Technical schools
Why are grammar schools criticised?
11+ reproduced class inequality by channelling the two social classes into two different types of schools.
It is culturally biased towards middle class pupils who could afford tuition to do well, lack of meritocracy.
What did the 1965 Comprehensive school system do?
It aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic by abolishing grammar and secondary modern schools.
Not all local education authorities decided to this, so the divide still exists in many areas.
Introduced by Labour.
What are Marx, New Right and Functionalist theories about the role of comprehensives?
-New Right said they resulted in the ‘dumbing down’ of educational provision as academically stronger students were held back.
-Functionalists argue that
comprehensives promote social integration (INTERACT little mixing because of setting and streaming)
-Marxists see education as serving the interests of capitalism by reproducing and legitimising class inequality.
Explain marketisation and education
Marketisation has created an ‘education market’ by reducing state control over education and increasing competition between schools and parental choice of school.
Introduced by Thatcher’s Conservative government.
What is parentocracy?
Power shifts away from teachers and schools (producers) to the consumers (parents).
This encourages diversity, gives parents more choice and raises standards.
Give examples of marketisation policies under the Education Reform Act
-Open Enrolment where parents are given the right to choose more than one school
-League tables that rank schools and make their educational performance results public, giving parents more choice on where to send their children to school.
-Formula funding where schools are allocated funds by how many pupils they attract
What are the criticisms of marketisation policies like open enrolment ?
Gerwitz argues that parentocracy/open enrolment is a breeding ground of inequality.
In her study of 14 London secondary schools she found differences in parents capital lead to class differences in how far they can exercise choice of school.
Middle class parents are ‘privileged school choosers’ as they possess the cultural capital to take advantage of the application process and choose the best schools.
Working class parents are ‘disconnected choosers’ as their choices are restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital. Less aware of the options available to them and have little knowledge of the application process.
Semi-skilled choosers are mainly w/c but were very ambitious for their children and frustrated by their inability to get their children into the schools of their choice.
Millar argues absolute choice in schools is an ‘illusion’. In his Which Survey 2005 parents faced structural obstacles such as high housing prices near popular schools and an unclear/unfair admissions criteria.
What are the criticisms of marketisation policies like league tables?
Ball criticises league tables for causing ‘cream skimming’ as since good schools are oversubscribed they have the ability to be selective with the pupils they admit eg: pupils with the best chance of achieving 5A*-C, usually middle class who can afford tuition.
Schools also ‘slit shift’ by avoiding taking on pupils who are likely to contribute poor results to the school, usually wc.
What are the criticisms of marketisation policies like funding formula?
Popular schools get more funds as they attract more pupils meaning they can afford better qualified teachers and facilities.
Unpopular schools lose income and find it difficult to match the teacher skills and facilities of their competitors. Hence, they fail to attract pupils and their funding is further reduced.
What were the New Labour Government policies that aimed to reduce inequality and also offer choice?
-Education Action Zones were established in deprived areas, which improved standards in less successful schools
-EMA’s were bursaries given to low income students to ensure the equality of opportunity and encourage them to stay in schools post 16.
-CIty academies/specialist schools were introduced which continued marketisation as it gave parents more choice over schools, providing diversity
-Aim Higher programmes to raise the aspirations of groups who are under represented in higher education.
What are the internal evaluations of New Labour educational policies?
-Benn says there is a ‘New Labour paradox’, despite introducing EMA’s they introduced tuition fees for HE that may deter them from going to uni
-Whilst the NL government did introduce compensatory measures to support wc students, the Coalition government ending up critiquing the spending and retracted the funding of EMA’s.
What are the criticisms of New Labour educational policies?
-Wragg argued that the Labour government allowed charitable status to Public schools, yet Specialist schools had to raise money to gain specialist status
-City Academies were better funded for the advantaged middle class, leaving the quality of other schools to drop
-Wragg argued that the Victorian railway carriage of inequality means that middle classes benefit
-This is a contrast to working class pupils, who Smith and Noble argue face ‘barriers to learning’ as they are less likely to have the disposable income needed to afford private tutors/travel to good schools.
What educational policies did the Coalition Government introduce and what was their effect?
Privitisation policies such as free schools and academies increased excellence and innovation by reducing the state’s control over schools and allowing businesses to invest into the schools and provide them with funding to reduce inequalities
There was more independent control over curriculums and parents and teachers were given the power to change anything they were unhappy with.
FSM and Pupil premium- money schools receive for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds (however spending on many areas has been cut)
What are the criticisms of Coalition government educational policies
-Ball argues promoting academies and free schools has led to increased fragmentation and centralisation of control over educational provision
-Fragmentation: comprehensive system is being replaced by a a patchwork of diverse provision, much involving private providers, leading to greater inequality in opportunities
-Centralisation of Control: schools: these schools are funded directly by the government who have the power to allow schools to be academies or free schools. This has reduced the role of elected local authorities in education
