Privatisation, marketisation and private education

Question 1

Privatisation definition

Answer 1

where services which were once provided by the state are transferred to the ownership of private companies

Question 2

Marketisation definition

Answer 2

the process whereby services, like education or health, that were previously controlled and run by the state, have government or local council control and support reduced or removed altogether, and operate like independently managed private businesses, subject to the free market forces of supply and demand, based on competition and consumer choice

Question 3

Neoliberalism definition

Answer 3

an economic approach that suggests resources are more efficiently managed by private businesses, and advocates shifting public services like education and health from the public sector to the private sector - privatising them. This is accompanied by marketisation.

Question 4

Many of the educational policies since the 1980s (eg privatisation and marketisation) have their roots in

Answer 4

neoliberalism, an approach that believes the state should play a minimal role in providing and managing these services, and that the free market (free enterprise and free trade between businesses) should decide how these services operate

Question 5

Neoliberalism suggests that

Answer 5

the best way to deliver and improve public services is by making them operate as (or like) private businesses)

Question 6

Neoliberalism is a feature of the

Answer 6

New Right approach to education

Question 7

the UK government spent around

Answer 7

£116 billion (inc student loan payments) on education in 2023, so there’s an enormous potential market for private investment

Question 8

Ball and Youdell (2007) - 2 kinds of privatisation in education

Answer 8

• privatisation in education (endogenous)
• privatisation of education (exogenous)

Question 9

Ball and Youdell - privatisation in education - ‘endogenous’ privatisation

Answer 9

• privatisation within the education system, where schools, colleges and universities begin to operate more like private businesses
• involves importing ideas from the private sector, for example local management (schools running themselves mostly independently), competition between schools for students, efficiency, performance related pay for teachers, consumer (parental) choice between schools, target-setting, school league tables, inspections and per capita (per student) funding
• these policies were first established by Conservative governments 1979-1997, continued by Labour governments 1997-2010 and sped up by the Conservative-Lib. dem coalition 2010-2015 with the expansion of the academy system

Question 10

Ball and Youdell (2007) - privatisation of education - ‘exogenous’ privatisation

Answer 10

• privatisation from outside the education system - allowing private businesses to sell products to the state education system
• Ball and Youdell (2007) suggest both UK and international companies are taking over things like:
  school services (staff training, consultancy, providing supply teachers, ICT services, school transport, meals, cleaning, pay rolls etc)
  management of schools (privately managed chains of academy schools)
  school inspections (like Tribal Inspections - OFSTED’s largest contractor in 2014, but it 2014 OFSTED stopped using private contractors)
  designing, building and operating school buildings under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), where private businesses can finance construction and manage school buildings for about 30 years (owning them and renting them to the school)
  branding of schools (website construction, logo development, school prospectus design etc)
  forming education policy through advice, consultation and research
  running the examination system (Pearson Edexcel, the largest examination’s awarding body is run by the multinational company Pearson PLC)

Question 11

Evaluation of privatisation - in favour

Answer 11

• more business-like and efficient schools, with higher standards
• more choice for parents
• profit-motive may encourage companies to provide schools and improve ‘failing’ schools in order to attract more pupils

Question 12

Evaluation for privatisation - against

Answer 12

• money may be drained from the education system as providers may not reinvest profits back into education
• cherry-picking, where companies only invest in the best schools or ones that can be easily improved to maximise profit
• private companies can go out of business, leaving children without schools
• equality of educational opportunity could be under threat, as the desire for profit may override providing for pupils’ needs and could lead to more covert or overt selection of students so schools look better

Question 13

pressure to maintain performance and image of the school could lead to what Gillborn and Youdell (2000) call

Answer 13

educational triage, reinforcing inequalities

Question 14

Marketisation as a means of improving education was originally an idea of

Answer 14

new right theorists like Chubb and Moe, and was first developed in the UK under Conservative governments 1979-1997

Question 15

Main features of marketisation

Answer 15

• independence (allowing schools to control their own affairs and run like private businesses)
• competition (making schools compete for students)
• choice (giving parents a choice of schools, enabling them to choose the education which best suits them)

Question 16

Features of marketisation (independence, competition and choice) are backed up by

Answer 16

quality control (through inspections by OFSTED), a national curriculum, government-approved subjects (like the EBacc), testing, the publication of Performance Tables

Question 17

parentocracy (described by Brown, 1990) definition

Answer 17

where a child’s education is dependent upon the wealth and wishes of parents, rather than the ability and efforts of pupils
(the wealth element refers to parents who choose private education, but also how wealthier parents have more effective choices in the state-funded education system)

Question 18

Brown (1990) - marketisation and parentocracy

Answer 18

the emphasis on ‘parent power’, with parents having more rights and choice of schools than ever, has been described as a parentocracy

Question 19

Marketisation and school diversity

Answer 19

since the 1980s there has been a growing range of different types of state schools, offering parents more choice
this diversity is accompanied by encouraging ‘partners’ like private businesses, universities, colleges, community and parent groups to become more involved in running schools and raise standards using their expert knowledge or enthusiasm

Question 20

Different types of state schools - these don’t always exists in a pure form and may involve elements of a different type (eg an academy may also be a faith school and a specialist school)

Answer 20

• specialist schools
• grammar schools
• community schools
• free schools
• foundation and trust schools
• voluntary-aided and voluntary-controlled schools
• faith schools
• city technology schools
• special schools
• academies

Question 21

Marketisation and raising standards

Answer 21

• marketisation was designed to raise standards
• as consumers of education, parents can choose between competing schools
• schools would be forced to improve standards to attract more students (and funding)
• poorly performing schools would risk losing money, closing or being taken over by an academy

Question 22

Policies and the marketisation of education

Answer 22

• Target setting (eg 35% of pupils getting 5 A*-C GCSEs)
• National testing (SATs, GCSEs etc)
• National Performance Tables (league tables) showing school results
• Ofsted inspections, with reports on strengths and weaknesses and recommendations for improvement
  All aim to to drive up standards by encouraging competition for the best results and good positions in league tables, therefore attracting students and money, to identify the best schools, to shame the worst schools into improving and to give parents the information to choose a school

Question 23

Policies and the marketisation of education

Answer 23

• More independence for schools and colleges (Local management of schools, run by headteachers and governments) gives schools more independence and control to respond to parents’ wishes and improve
• Formula funding (money given per students) and pupil premium (extra money for most disadvantaged students) aims to reward high-quality schools for attracting students and encourage the best schools to attract more disadvantaged students and provide money to help improve their education
• Business sponsorship and private financing of some state schools bring in money for successful schools and uses private business money and expertise to help schools compete in the education market

Question 24

Policies and the marketisation of education

Answer 24

• School diversity
• Parental choice/parentocracy
• Open enrolment (schools have to accept students if they have vacancies)
  all aim to enable consumers to have the most choice and therefore choose the best ‘products’ and to allow the most popular schools to expand and fill all the places, further encouraging competition

Question 25

Criticisms of marketisation of education

Answer 25

• the middle class has gained the most
• encourages educational triage
• difficulties in improving schools and colleges
• ‘dumbing down’ of teaching content
• problems with the national curriculum and testing
• reduced quality control
• chaos in the education system

Question 26

Critique of marketisation of education: The myth of parentocracy - the middle class has gained the most

Answer 26

• Ball et al (1996) - parents are now encouraged to view themselves as consumers of education, however parental choice follows a pattern related to social class and contributes to the reproduction of class inequality
• Tough and Brooks (2007) - better-educated, middle class families with higher incomes are more likely to choose schools based on performance, whereas working class parents are more likely to choose schools nearest to their homes
• Machin and Vernoit (2010) found evidence that the 2010-15 coalition government’s new academies contained significantly less disadvantaged (FSM)
• some schools use covert selection and try to dissuade poorer families from applying
• middle class parents are more able to find the best schools, understand league tables, compare schools, know more about interpreting OFSTED reports, can afford to move into the catchment of better schools, afford higher transport costs and know more about appeals and application procedures

Question 27

Critique of marketisation of education: Education triage

Answer 27

• competition between schools mean teachers try to prioritise getting the best results overall to look better in league tables
• this can encourage educational triage
• a report by the House of Commons Education Committee (2011) suggested that the introduction of the EBacc would lead to teachers devoting more time to pupils who had a chance of achieving this standard and a “serious risk that schools will simply ignore their less academically successful pupils”

Question 28

Critique of marketisation of education: Difficulties in improving schools and colleges

Answer 28

• competition between schools for funding may make it harder for poorer schools to improve, as students go elsewhere
• popular schools get more money so can improve much more and have better teachers, whereas poorer schools lose income and therefore may lack resources
• the pupil premium funding may not be enough to encourage better schools to attract the poorer pupils

Question 29

Critique of marketisation of education: Potential ‘dumbing down’ of content

Answer 29

• the need to retain students may mean that if students have too much work or find it too difficult, they move to another course or school
• retaining students may make schools not push them too hard in fear of losing them and this may lead to a ‘dumbing down’ of teaching and subject content

Question 30

Critique of marketisation of education: Problems with the national curriculum and testing

Answer 30

• national curriculum has been criticised for not giving teachers enough opportunity to respond to the needs of pupils
• testing has been criticised (particularly the SATs at KS1, age 7) for putting too much pressure on young children
• teaching may become overly focused on getting good results in these tests and neglect wider learning
• as academies and free schools are exempt from the national curriculum, these criticisms no longer apply to 80% of secondary schools, however this does make it more difficult to ensure a suitable curriculum is being taught in these schools

Question 31

Critique of marketisation of education: Reduced quality control

Answer 31

• evidence is emerging that Ofsted is not completely independent and can be manipulated by politicians
• in 2014, during the inspection of Birmingham schools alleged to be involved with an Islamist extremist ‘plot’ to take over schools, Ofsted changed its criteria so that schools originally rated as ‘outstanding’ became ‘inadequate’ and were place in special measures

Question 32

Critique of marketisation of education: Chaos in the education system

Answer 32

• now a lack of local oversight and checks and balances over what academies do and how they spend their money
• parents are unclear on who these schools are accountable to (can complaints go to the headteacher, local authority etc)
• series of scandals 2013-4 in academies ranging from financial corruption to fears of Islamist extremism
• local authorities have lost controls over the planning and supply of school places
• headteachers have frequently complained that the pace of educational change (esp in curriculums and exam systems) along with the need to compete with other schools and the lack of support has made the quality and planning of English schooling increasingly chaotic

Question 33

7% of the school population is

Answer 33

in private education

Question 34

Private education - independent schools

Answer 34

• Walford (2003) points out the wide diversity of independent schools, some of which are so small they are almost like ‘home schooling’
• Walford points out the range of religious independent schools (more than 50 muslims schools and 60 evangelical christian schools)
• while independent schools meet parental wishes, they don’t necessarily lead to the elitism and prestige associated with some independent school

Question 35

Elite definition

Answer 35

a small group holding great power and privilege in society

Question 36

Private education - Public schools

Answer 36

• the most expensive and prestigious private schools
• Walford - “entry to such schools has been seen as a passport to academic success, to high-status universities and to prosperous and influential careers”
• pupils at these schools are largely the children of the wealthiest upper and upper-middle-class parents
• average day fees up to £20,000 a year
• Eton charges up to £50,000 per year for boarders

Question 37

Evaluation in support of independent schools

Answer 37

• smaller class sizes and better facilities give children better chances of getting into university
• The Sutton Trust (2011) found that independent schools are 7x more likely to be accepted into Oxford and Cambridge, rising to 55x more likely when compared to pupils who qualify for FSM
• At Oxford, 31% of students went to private school (7% of general population)
• many independent schools are also selective so this helps them to maintain high standards
• many defend private education with the view that parents should be able to spend their money as they wish
• teachers’ salaries are often higher in the public sector, so independent schools often attract better-qualified and more experienced teachers than the state sector

Question 38

Evaluation against independent schools

Answer 38

• many argue that most people can’t afford private education and it is wrong that children of the wealthy should have such a clear advantage
• many independent schools use charitable status to avoid paying taxes
• the taxpayer pays to train teachers of private schools as they attend state-run universities and colleges
• the quality of teaching is often similar in independent schools, but the smaller classes, increased individual attention and better resources improve results
• research suggests that even when privately educated pupils get worse exam results they still get better jobs, suggesting attending public school is enough to secure a good job regardless of qualifications

Question 39

Privately educated people make up 7% of the general population (stats from 2013)

Answer 39

but
- 68% of top barristers
- 70% of top judges
- 50% of the House of Lords
- 54% of the top media personnel
- 35% of MPs

Question 40

Out of 56 prime ministers

Answer 40

only 11 have only attended non-fee-paying schools

Question 41

Elite education and elite jobs and the ‘old boys’ network’

Answer 41

• a social network of ex public school students providing valuable social capital
• often those in positions of power recruit those from a similar background
• means that well-paid future careers with power and status can be almost guaranteed with a private education
• undermines the principle of equality of educational opportunity and the idea that Britain is a meritocracy
• demonstrates Bowles and Gintis’ marxist idea that the education system confirms and legitimises social class of origin as social class of destination