Topic2 Education- Pivatisation

Question 1

What is privatisation

Answer 1

It involves the transfer of public assets such as schools to private companies

Question 2

What does education become as a source of for capitalists

Answer 2

A source of profit

Question 3

What does Ball call the education system that makes profit

Answer 3

Education services industry (ESI)

Question 4

What are private companies in the education services industry (ESI) involved in (5)

Answer 4

• building schools
• providing teachers
• careers advice
• ofsted inspection services
• running entire LEAs

Question 5

What do large scale building projects often involve

Answer 5

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in which the private sector companies provide capital to design, build, finance and operate educational services

Question 6

State the 4 trends in privatisation

Answer 6

• blurring the public/ private boundary
• privatisation and the globalisation of education policy
• the cola-isation of schools
• education as a commodity

Question 7

1) Blurring the public/ private boundary
- what do many senior officials in the public sector such as directors of Local authorities and headteachers now leave to do

Answer 7

They leave to set up or work for private sector education businesses, often hired as consultants by schools to advise them

Question 8

1) Blurring the public/ private boundary

- what policy has also blurred the public/ private boundary

Answer 8

Academisation

Question 9

1) Blurring the public/ private boundary

- how has the policy of academisation blurred the boundary between public/ private sector

Answer 9

Many academies are run and operated by private coorporations and become part of a chain. As Pollack notes, this flow of personnel allows companies

Question 10

1) Blurring the public/ private boundary

- how has the policy of academisation blurred the public/ private boundary (2)

Answer 10

• many academies are run and operated by private coorporations and become part of a chain.
• as Pollack notes, this flow of personnel allows companies to buy ‘insider knowledge’ to help with contracts, as well as side-stepping local authority democracy (reflecting the policy of marketisation, NR)

Question 11

2) privatisation and the globalization of education policy

- many private companies in the education services industry are …

Answer 11

foreign- owned

Question 12

2) privatisation and the globalization of education policy

- what does Ball say about where some exam papers are marked

Answer 12

some Pearson GCSE exam answers are now marked in Sydney and Iowa

Question 13

2) privatisation and the globalization of education policy

- what do Buckingham and Scanlon say about the UK’s four leading educational software companies

Answer 13

-the UK’s 4 leading educational software companies are owned by global multinationals (Disney)

Question 14

2) privatisation and the globalization of education policy

- what are many contracts for educational services in the UK sold by the original company sold to

Answer 14

banks and investment funds or overseas companies

Question 15

3) the cola-isation of schools

- how is the private sector penetrating education indirectly (brand loyalty)

Answer 15

-for example, through vending machines on school premises and the development of brand loyalty through displays of logos and sponsorship

Question 16

3) the cola-isation of schools

- what does Molnar say about schools

Answer 16

-schools are targeted by private companies because ‘schools by their very nature carry enormous goodwill and can thus confer legitimacy on anything associated with them.’- schools are a kind of product endorsement

Question 17

4) education as a commodity

- what does Ball say about education (2)

Answer 17

• education is involving profit for businesses

- privatisation is becoming the key factor shaping educational policy

Question 18

4) education as a commodity

- what does Privatisation mean for the state

Answer 18

-privatisation means that the state is losing its role as the provider of educational services

Question 19

4) education as a commodity

- why is Ball critical of privatisation

Answer 19

-more and more areas of education are now subject to business practices and financial logics, and brought and sold as assets and made part of investment portfolios

Question 20

4) education as a commodity

- what does Marxists such as Hall see coalition government policies as part of

Answer 20

-as part of the ‘long march of the neo-liberal revolution’

Question 21

4) education as a commodity

- how does Hall see academies

Answer 21

-Hall sees academies as an example of handing over public services to private capitalists, such as educational businesses

Question 22

4) education as a commodity

- in the Marxist view, what is a myth

Answer 22

-the neo-liberal claim that privatisation and competition drive up standards is a myth used to legitimate the turning of education into a source of private profit

Question 23

the impact of neo-liberalism ca be identified through marketisation and privatisation

-state the 2 processes that represent this view

Answer 23

1) the introduction of an internal market within the state education system
2) the privatisation of state education

Question 24

1) the intro of an internal market within the state education system
- what was this established by

Answer 24

this was established by the 1988 ERA, which directed state schools to act more like private businesses, e.g. competing for pupils.

Question 25

2) the privatisation of state education

- how do private companies or voluntary organisations deliver education which makes the state have 2 roles

Answer 25

a) the state commissions educational services putting them up for contract and deciding which private bidder gets the contract
b) the state acts as regulator, setting targets and monitoring performance to ensure that the private providers meet certain standards e.g. through ofsted inspections

Question 26

What was the earliest agency to be involved in education

Answer 26

The church

Question 27

What was the only source of education for the poor

Answer 27

Priest schools

Question 28

What do advocates of faith schooling emphasise

Answer 28

The higher academic results and supportive community ethos that they offer

Question 29

What do faith schools allow to be preserved

Answer 29

They allow cultures and religions to be preserved- ensuring home values are mirrored by schools.

Question 30

Faith schools- preserving culture and religion does what

Answer 30

Reduces conflict, helping minority communities to integrate comfortably without persecution

Question 31

What do critics say about faith schools and their academic results

Answer 31

Critics argue that the higher academic results of faith schools is linked to their selective nature

Question 32

Apart from their selective nature, what else do faith schools get criticised about

Answer 32

They are criticised for segregating children, pointing to the impact that a faith school can have on the social make-up of the surrounding areas

Question 33

What do some people criticise about faith schools in general

Answer 33

That state education had no place for education, arguing that children should be exposed to a variety of belief systems and allowed to form their own opinions

Question 34

What did the city academy scheme provide

Answer 34

-40% of the academies proposed in the early phases were sponsored by faith charities or evangelical individuals

Question 35

How did the 2 academies in the north-east, set by Reg Vardy get criticism

Answer 35

Because creationism and intelligent design are taught in science lessons, rather than RE as alternatives to scientific theory