Role And Function Of Education New Right

Question 1

What are the four roles and function of education according to the new right?

Answer 1

1. Improves standards through reducing state involvement and increasing parentocracy
2. Promote traditional conservative values
3. Encourage values of competition and meritocracy
4. Encourage vocational skills

Question 2

Who said improves standards through reducing state involvement and increasing parentocracy?

Answer 2

• Chubb and Moe

Question 3

What did Chubb and Moe say about improving standards through reducing state involvement and increasing parentocracy?

Answer 3

• claimed that American schools had failed disadvantaged groups and did not produce skills in pupils that would benefit the economy
• private schools generally offered a higher quality of education than state school
• promoted the idea of creating a parentocracy
• educational reform act 1988- national curriculum (central government dictated what should be taught in schools, standardises education across all schools ensuring a certain level of knowledge and skills were assessed), league tables (secondary schools obliged to publish results of SATs, GCSEs and A levels and government published league tables ranking schools based on their performance), open enrolment and parent choice (introduced open enrolment, giving parents the right to choose their child’s school rather than being bound by catchment areas and links to new right idea of increasing parentocracy; parents act as consumers making choices in an education market and introducing formula funding based on pupil numbers and publishing league tables, the act aimed to create a competitive environment where schools strive to attract more students by offering better educational outcomes), ofsted (quality assurance mechanism aimed to provide parents with information to help them make informed choices about schools and hold schools accountable for their standards)

Question 4

Who said promote traditional conservative values?

Answer 4

• section 28 of the local government act 1988

Question 5

What did the section 28 of the local government act 1988 say about promoting traditional conservative values?

Answer 5

• prohibited promotion of homosexuality by schools
• directly reflects the new right view that education system should promote traditional values because: restriction on discussing homosexuality (aligns with traditional conservative viewpoint that may not recognise or accept homosexuality as a norm or as a valid family structure ), reinforcing traditional family structures (directly supports idea of traditional family structures as the norm and discourages the validation of other family forms within educational setting)
• acted as a legal mechanism to embed a specific traditional conservative stance on sexuality and family within the education system demonstrating direct link between legislation and the new rights broader aim of ensuring that education serves to promote traditional values

Question 6

Who said encourage values of competition and meritocracy?

Answer 6

• Murray

Question 7

What did Murray say about encourage values of competition and meritocracy?

Answer 7

• education system in US had become too romantic and had neglected the simple realities of pupils abilities suggesting that essentially not everyone is as smart as each other
• education asks too much from students at the bottom of the intellectual pile, asks the wrong things from those in the middle and asks too little from those at the top
• leads to too many people going to university devaluing higher education degrees and considered detrimental to society as believed society is fundamentally dependent on how well education the academically gifted are
• education should admit that even though more value is sought in society from education, many will not be successful in it and will find value in less skilled vocations

Question 8

Who said encourage vocational skills?

Answer 8

• new vocationalism

Question 9

What did new vocationalism say about encourage vocational skills?

Answer 9

• refers to set of government policies introduced by conservative government and adapted by labour government that aimed to improve quality of education and training related to skills for work
• aimed to address perceived skills gap, response to rising youth unemployment and introduced key initiatives: Youth training scheme (one year scheme for unemployed school leavers, requiring to undertake training with employer alongside vocational training in colleges and training centres), national vocational qualifications (offer a coherent set of qualifications relating to skills in workplace by demonstrating competencies under workplace conditions), general national vocational qualifications (broader mix of academic and vocational skills in areas like business and health and social care)
• new vocational aligns with new right emphasis on vocational education following Murray’s ideas, new right believed uk needed to create a skilled workforce to compete with other countries and argued schools should focus less on cultural awareness and more on specific work based skills