Topic 5- Education

Question 1

What was the educational policy before 1888?

Answer 1

There were no state schools and education was only available to a minority of people.
Industrialisation increased and education was made compulsory for children aged 5-13.
M/c kids were given academic education whereas w/c kids were given basic numeracy and literacy skills.

Question 2

What is the tripartite system?

Answer 2

1944 education act - presented by conservatives
Education was influenced by meritocracy and children took the 11 plus test to get to 1 of 3 schools

Question 3

What were the 3 schools and their features in the tripartite system?

Answer 3

Grammar- those who passed the 11 plus test, higher education

Secondary modern- those who failed the 11 plus test, given a practical curriculum

Technical schools- only existed in a few areas

Question 4

How did the tripartite system affect children?

Answer 4

It reproduced inequality, class and gender. Girls had to get higher on the 11 plus test, they sent different social classes to different schools.

Question 5

What is the comprehensive system?

Answer 5

1965- Labour
Aimed to overcome the class divide by abolishing the 11 plus test along with grammar schools.

They were replaced with comprehensive schools.

However, class divide was still a thing due to labelling and streaming

Question 6

What is selective schooling?

Answer 6

Selection by ability- based on intelligence test at age 11
Selection by aptitude- potential in certain subjects, specialist schools can take 10% of pupils by aptitude
Selection by faith- select students based on religion or religion of parents

Question 7

What is covert selection?

Answer 7

Tough and brooks- schools use backdoor social selection, cherry-picking those who they think will do well

Question 8

What is new vocationalism?

Answer 8

1979-1997, Conservatives
Aimed to deal with youth unemployment, introduced apprenticeships and training schemes, favoured by functionalists and new right.

Question 9

What is a criticism of new vocationalism?

Answer 9

1) Creates cheap labour for employers
2) way to reduce political embarrassment about unemployment
3) cohen- through instilling good attitudes and work discipline, made people accept their low pay and low skilled jobs

Question 10

What is the education reform act?

Answer 10

1988- Conservatives
Introduces marketisation, the creation of an ‘education market’

Policies that promoted marketisation were:
Publication of league tables
Business sponsorships
Open enrolment
Funding formula ( same funding for each pupil)
Specialist schools
National curriculum
Target setting
Introduced tuition fees

Question 11

What is parentocracy?

Answer 11

David- 1993
Describes marketisation as run by parents, educational power shifts from producers to consumers (parents)

Question 12

What is cream skimming and silt shifting?

Answer 12

Bartlett

Cs- good schools have more selection and choose higher achieving, m/c pupils

Silt shifting- good schools can avoid taking worse students

Question 13

What does Gewirtz say about parental choice and inequalities?

Answer 13

Marketisation benefits m/c parents as their economic and cultural capital puts them in a better position

Found 3 types of parents when choosing secondary schools:
1) privileged- skilled choosers- professional m/c parents who picked the best schools for their children due to their cultural capital
2) disconnected local choosers- w/c parents who sent their kids to wherever was local
3) semi-skilled choosers- w/c but were ambitious for their children

Question 14

What is the myth of parentocracy?

Answer 14

Ball- m/c can take advantage of opportunities that are posed to them and not w/c parents

Leech and campos- show how m/c parents can move to catchment areas

Question 15

Explain the new labour 1997-2010

Answer 15

Labour aimed to reduce inequality through policies such as:
1) Education action zones
2) aim higher programme to raise aspirations
3) EMAs- payments to students from low income backgrounds over 16
4) national literacy strategy- reduced class sizes and more literacy and numeracy hours

Question 16

What is a criticism of new labour?

Answer 16

Benn - argues there is a contradiction between the policy to reduce inequality and its commitment to marketisation

Question 17

Explain what the coalition government added

Answer 17

Academies- all schools were encouraged to become academies.

Free schools- set up and run by parents, teachers and faith organisations

Question 18

What is fragmented centralisation and centralisation of control?

Answer 18

Ball- fc is a patchwork of diverse provision

Centralisation of control- central government, has the power to make schools academies and free schools

Question 19

How did the coalition government reduce inequality?

Answer 19

Free school meals for reception yr1/2
Pupil premium- more money for deprived kids ( however ofsted found pupil premium wasnt being used

Question 20

What is the privatisation of education?

Answer 20

Involves the transfer of public assets such as schools to private companies.

Academies and free schools were encouraged to work in partnership with employers who has a say in how the school was run and what the curriculum was.

Question 21

What does ball say about privatisation?

Answer 21

Education becomes a source for capitalist profit, ball calls this the education service industry.

Question 22

What is the cola-isation of schools

Answer 22

Molnar- schools are targeted by private companies because schools legitimise the product.

Ball- cadbury sport equipment promotion was scrapped as pupils has to eat 5400 bars for a set of volley posts

Question 23

Explain education as a commodity?

Answer 23

Ball- privatisation affects policy, it is moving from educational services to private companies.

Hall- marxist, sees academies as an example of handing over public services to the private capitalists.

Question 24

Explain globalisation in education?

Answer 24

Most ESI companies are foreign owned, edexel is usa, and some pearson papers are marked in Sydney and iowa.

How has it affected:
1) increased migration has led to more culturally diverse classrooms and approaches
2) greater flow of ideas around the world, countries influenced by eachother
3) demand for more skilled workers to compete globally

Question 25

What are policies affecting gender and ethnicity?

Answer 25

Gender- in the 19th century girls couldn’t take part in higher education, then they had to achieve higher in the 11+ test. Only recently policies such as GIST have been introduced

Ethnicity-
Assimilation policies- 60s-70s - brought in ethnic minorities into mainstream British culture to try raise achievement

Multicultural education- 80s-90s- aimed to promote achievement if ethnic minority groups, valuing all cultures to raise self esteem. (However, is criticised by being called tokenism, as it picks out stereotypical features, but doesnt tackle institutional racism.

Social inclusion- 90s- detailed monitoring of of exam results by ethnicity