Education - Education Policy

Question 1

When was compulsory education introduced & what ages did it affect?

Answer 1

1880 -> ages 5-13

Question 2

When was the tripartite system introduced & by which government?

Answer 2

1944 -> conservative government

Question 3

Which 3 schools were introduced by the tripartite system?

Answer 3

Grammar, secondary modern & secondary technical

Question 4

What were the objectives of the tripartite system?

Answer 4

Built on meritocracy & wanted to increase equality of opportunity through the 11+ exams

Question 5

What were some limitations of the tripartite system?

Answer 5

Class inequalities -> grammar schools were taken up by middle classes & the secondary moderns were mostly taken up by lower classes
Deterministic -> IQ test determined people’s future at very young age so there was no room for growth later in life
Labelling -> some secondary moderns had low standards & labelled 80% of their students as failures

Question 6

When was the comprehensive system introduced & by which government?

Answer 6

1965 - labour

Question 7

What are comprehensive schools?

Answer 7

Schools that do not select pupils based on academic ability

Question 8

What were the objectives of comprehensive schools?

Answer 8

To increase equality of opportunity

Question 9

What were some limitations of the comprehensive system?

Answer 9

Little parental choice -> every school essentially the same
Banding & streaming across social classes (working class in lower bands vs middle class in higher bands)
Poor standards in some schools

Question 10

When was the Education Reform Act introduced & by which government?

Answer 10

1988 -> the new right

Question 11

Who was the prime minister during the ERA?

Answer 11

Margaret Thatcher

Question 12

What did the ERA introduce?

Answer 12

League tables
Formula funding
The national curriculum
OFSTED

Question 13

What were the objectives of the ERA?

Answer 13

To encourage marketisation & privatisation

Question 14

What is a strength of the ERA?

Answer 14

Competition did increase standards -> results gradually improved through the 1990s

Question 15

What were some limitations of the ERA?

Answer 15

League tables encouraged ‘teaching to test’
Selection by mortgage -> house prices increased in catchment areas of the best schools which forces out the poorer parents
Cream skimming -> the best schools took the best students who were predominantly middle class

Question 16

What did the new labour government of 1997 introduced?

Answer 16

EMA
Free school meals
Sure start
Increased funding for education
Tuition fees -> uni

Question 17

Who was the prime minister in 1997?

Answer 17

Tony Blair

Question 18

What is EMA & what was the objective?

Answer 18

Education Maintenance Allowance -> paid to students aged 16-19 from lower income families if they attended all their lessons & achieved all their targets to help them with the hidden costs of education

Question 19

What are some strengths of the 1997 new labour policies?

Answer 19

Early academies increased standards in poorer areas
Better at improving equality of opportunity than the new right

Question 20

What were the negatives of the 1997 new labour policies?

Answer 20

Costly
Parents liked sure start but it didn’t improve education (improved health)
Tuition fees for higher education put working class pupils off going to uni

Question 21

What changes did the coalition government bring in?

Answer 21

Academisation
Free schools
Pupil premium

Question 22

When was the coalition government policies introduced?

Answer 22

2010

Question 23

Which prime minister introduced the coalition policies?

Answer 23

David Cameron

Question 24

What were the coalition government made up of?

Answer 24

Conservatives & Lib Dems

Question 25

What were some strengths of the coalition government?

Answer 25

Standards continued to improve

Question 26

What are some limitations of the coalition government’s policies?

Answer 26

Academisation & free schools are both ideology -> there’s no evidence they improve standards more than LEA schools
Free schools advantaged the middle class
Pupil premium -> too early to say