educational policy and inequality

Question 1

educational policy

Answer 1

‘educational policy’ refers to the plans and strategies for education introduced by government e.g by the acts of parliament.

Question 2

education policy before 1944
1870

Answer 2

before 1870 there were no state schools. children of the wealthy were educated either through private tutors or at fee paying schools. working class children had a very basic education which was run by the churches
- the need for an educated workforce led to the significant education legislation, the 1870 education act which established the first schools for all children up to the age of 10.

Question 3

education policy 1944 - 1965

Answer 3

• the second significant legislation was the 1944 education act which introduced free secondary school education for all pupils up to the age of 15. this act brought the tripartite system of secondary education, because there were three different types of schools, each catering for different apitutides and abilities.
• the aim of this act was to bring equal opportunity for all pupils to succeed in life through their own effort and abilities, rather than because of their social background
• the 11+ exam was used to determine which secondary school students attended

Question 4

the tripartite system

Answer 4

the 1944 education act brought in the tripartite system, where children were to be selected and allocated to one of three different types of secondary school, supposedly according to their abilties which were identified by thw 11+ exam
the types of schools
- grammar schools - offered an academic curriculum and access to non manual jobs and higher education. they were for pupils with academic ability who passed the 11+. these pupils were mainly middle class
- secondary modern schools - offered an non acedemic ‘pratical’ curriculum and access to manual work for pupils who failed the 11+. mainly working class

• the third type, technical schools, existed in a few areas only

Question 5

the education policy from 1965 - 1979

Answer 5

• the tripartite system was seen as failing to provide equal educational opportunities for all, especially those from a working class background. so in 1965, the new labour government abolished the triparte system and replaced it with a comprehensive system. this single type of school aimed at educating all pupils under one roof, regardless of ability, and at removing the class divide of the triparite system. admissions into local comprehensive schools were bases on catchment areas

Question 6

the comprehensive school system

Answer 6

was introduced into many areas from 1965 onwards. aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripiate system and make education more meritocratic. the 11+ was to be abolished along with grammar and secondary moderns, to be replaced by comprehensive schools that all pupils within the area would attended
however, it was left to the local education authority to decide wether to ‘go comprehsive’ and not all did so as a result, the grammar secondary modern divide exists in many areas

the two theories of comprehensive schools -
- functionalists argue that they promote social integration by bringing children of different social classes together in one school
- marxisrs argue they are not meritocratic. rather, they reproduce class inequality from one generation to the next through communuication of pratcise of streaming and labelling.

Question 7

the education policy from 1979 - 1997

Answer 7

• the conservative governments of margate thatcher saw education was failing to provide a suffciently skilled workforce. Britains lack of industrial competivness was partly blamed on schools. they also believed that schools were failing pupils and needed to raise the standard of education. therefore, the conservative party introduced the 1988 education reform act, heavily infulenced by new right policies whereby schools compete with each other, creating an ‘education market;, with the aim of raising educational standards. this concept is known as the marketisation of the education system

Question 8

what is marketisation?

Answer 8

is a method of introducing competition into public services (e.g education and health) that were previously controlled and run by the state, that is, central government or local councils. the aim of introducing marketisation principles is to raise standards in education by creating competition between schools.
marketisation has created an ‘education market’ by
- reducing direct state control over education
- increasing both competition between schools and parental choice of schools.

Question 9

marketisation and the government

Answer 9

marketisation has become a central theme of government education policy since the 1988 education reform act, introduced by the conservative government of margaret thatcher.
from 1997, the new labour government of tony blair and gordon brown followed similar policies, emphasising standards, diversity and choice. from 2010, conservative liberal democrats coalition government took marketisation even further, for example made academies and free schools.

Question 10

parentocracy

Answer 10

polices to promote marketisation include:
- publication of league tables and ofsted inspections reports that rank each school according to its exam perfromance and gives parents the information they need to choose the right school
- business sponorships of schools
- specialist schools, sepcialising in It, languages ect
- formula funding where schools receive the same amount of funding for each pupil.
ect

Question 11

marketisation - david

Answer 11

describes marketised education as a ‘parentocracy’ (literally, ‘rule by parents’. supporters of marketisation argue that in education market, power shifts away from the producers (teachers and schools) to the consumers (the parents). they claim that this encourages diversity among schools, gives parents more choice and raises standards

Question 12

the reproduction of inequality - marketisation

Answer 12

despite the claimed benefits of marketisation, its critics argue that is has increased inequalities. for example, ball and whitty note how marketsisation policies such as exam league tables and the funding formula reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities in schools.

Question 13

league tables and cream skimming

Answer 13

the policy of publishing each schools exam results in a league table ensures that schools that achieve goos results are more in demand, because parents are attracted to those with good league tables rankings. as bartlett notes this encourages:
- cream skiming - ‘good’ schools can be more selective, choose their own customers and recurit high achieving, mainly middle class pupils. as a result these pupils gain an advantage
- slit shifting - ‘good’ schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools league table posistion.

for schools with poor league table positions, the opposite applies: they cannot afford to be selective and have to take less able, mainly working class pupils, so their results are poorer and they remain unattractive to middle class parents. the overall effect of league tables is thus to produce unequal schools that reporduce social class inequalities

Question 14

whats funding formula?

Answer 14

were schools were allocated funds by local authorities based on the number of pupils: the more pupils, the greater the budget the school received.

Question 15

the funding formula

Answer 15

schools where allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils that attract. as a result, popular schools get more funds and so can afford better qualified teachers and better falicities. again, their popularity allows them to be selective and attracts more ambitious, generally middle class appliacants

on the other hand unpopular schools lose income and find it difficult to match the teacher skills and falicties of their more successful rivals. thus popular schools get good results and middle class pupils thrive. unpopular schools fail to attract pupils and their funding is further reduced.

Question 16

gewirtz: parental choice

Answer 16

marketisation policies do not only benefit the middle class by creating inequalities between schools. by increasing parental choice, marketisation also advantages middle class parents, whose economic and cultural capital puts them in a better posistion to choose ‘good’ schools for their children.

Question 17

gewirtz study on parental choice

Answer 17

study of 14 secondary schools. she found that differences in parents economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far they can exercise choice of secondary school. she identifies three main types of parents:

1. privileged skilled choosers - these were mainly professional middle class parents who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children. being well educated they were able to take full advantage of the choices open to them.
   they know how school admissions systems work.
   their economic capital also meant they could afford to move their children around the education system to get the best deal out of i.
2. disconnected local choosers - these were working class parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital. they found it difficult to understand school admissions procedures. they were less confident in their dealings with schools, less aware of the choices open to them, and less able able to manipulate the system to their own advantage.
   funds are limited and a place at the nearest school was often their only realistic option for children
3. semi skilled choosers - these parents were also mainly working class, but unlike the disconnected local choosers, they were ambitious for their children. however, they too lacked cultural capital and found it difficult to make sense of the education market, often having to rely on other peoples oppions about schools.

Question 18

the myth of parentocracy

Answer 18

• not only does marketisation reproduce inequality; it also legitimates it by concealing its true causes by justifying its existence
• ball believes that marketisation gives the appearance of a ‘parentocracy’. that is, the education system seems as if it is based on parents having a free choice of school.
  however, he argues that it is a myth, not reality. it makes it appear that all the parents have the same freedom to choose which school to send their children to
• middle class parents are better able to take advantage of the choices available

Question 19

the new labour and inequality

Answer 19

while marketisation policies have tended to increase inequality, the new labour governments of 1997 to 2010 also introduced a number of policies aimed at reducing it. these included:
- designating some deprived areas as education action zones and providing them with additional resources
- increased funding for state education
ect

however, critics such as benn see a contradiction between labours policies to tackle inequality and its commitment to marketisation.
furthermore, new labour governments neither abolished fee paying private schools.

Question 20

the new labour government 1997-2010

Answer 20

the new labour government of tony blair and gordon brown came into power in 1997. they maintained the policy of marketisation but their main aim was to continue to reduce educational inequality. one way was to ‘pump’ more money into mainly deprived inner city areas where pupils were under achieving. some of the implementations were
- sure start programme - introduced to help pre school children and their families living in disadvantaged areas, as children from such areas are at risk of doing poorly at school, by providing better childcare support, early education, and health and family support while the child is growing up
- education action zones - introduced to help in areas of deprivation with low levels of educational achievement. the aim was to provide additional support and resources e.g improving attendance
- city academies - were set up in deprived inner city areas where schools were seen as failing. the aim was to knock down old buildings and build new modern schools. this would help deprived children see their new education environment as important, and help raise educational achievement.

Question 21

the conservative government policies from 2010

Answer 21

from 2010 - 2015, a coalition government was in power (conservative and liberal democrats). the coalition government continued with policies from previous governments but reformed many of them to further tackle educational inequality. also by giving greater powers to parents and pupils to choose schools
some of the main policies to increase choice:
- academies
from 2010, all schools were encouraged to leave local authority control and become academies. funding was taken from local authority budgets and given directly to academies by central government, and academies were given control over their curriculum.
by 2017, over 68% of all secondary schools had converted ti academy status
- free schools
although funded directly by the state, free schools are set up and run by parents, teachers, faith organisations or businesses rather than local authority. supporters of free schools claim that they improve educational standards by taking control away from the sate giving power to parents.

Question 22

fragmented centralisation

Answer 22

• ball 2011 argues that promoting academies and free schools has led to both increased fragmentation and increased centralisation of control over educational provision in england

Question 23

what is fragmentation?

Answer 23

the comprehensive system is being replaced by a patchwork of diverse provision, much of it involving private providers, that leads to greater inequality in oppotrunities

Question 24

what us centralisation of control?

Answer 24

central government alone has the power to allow or require schools to become academies or allow free schools to be set up. these schools are funded directly by central government. their rapid growth has greatly reduced the role of elected local authorities in education.

Question 25

polices to reduce inequality

Answer 25

while conservative led coalitions marketisation policies are said to have increased inequality, they also introduced policies aimed at reducing it. these included:
- free school meals - for all children in reception, year one and year two
- the pupil premium - money that the schools receive for each pupil from a disadvantaged background.

however, ofsted found that in many cases the pupil premium is not spent on those it is supposed to help.

Question 26

the privatisation of education

Answer 26

privatisation involves the transfer of public assets such as schools to private companies. in recent years, there has been a trend towards the privatisation of important aspects of education. in the process, education becomes a source of profit for capitalists in what ball calls the ‘education services act’

Question 27

the colaisation of schools

Answer 27

the private sector is also is also penetrating education indirectly, for example through vending machines on school premises and the devlopment of brand loyalty through displays of logos and sponsorships. this process has been called the ‘cola-isation’ of schools.

Question 28

policies on gender

Answer 28

in the 19th century females were largely excluded from higher education. more recently, under the triparte system, girls often had to achieve a higher mark than boys in the 11+ in order to obtain a granmar school place
- since the 1970s, however, policies such as GIST have been introduced to try to reduce gender differences in subject choice.

Question 29

policies on ethnicity