5.2 Marketisation

Question 1

1. Policies to promote Marketisation

Answer 1

• Publication of league tables and Ofsted inspection reports that rank each school.
• Open enrolment, allowing successful schools to recruit more pupils.
• Formula funding, where schools receive the same amount of funding for each pupil.
• Schools being allowed to opt out of local authority control e.g. to become academies.
• Schools having to compete to attract pupils.
• Introduction of tuition fees for higher education.
• Allowing parents and others to set up free schools.

Question 2

2. Parentocracy

Answer 2

• David (1993): Describes marketisation of education as a ‘parentocracy’.
• Supporters of marketisation argue that in an education market, power shifts away from the producers (schools) to the consumers (parents).
• They claim this encourages diversity among schools, gives parents more choice and raises standards.

Question 3

3. The reproduction of inequality

Answer 3

• Despite the benefits of marketisation, critics argue that is has increased inequalities.
• Ball (1994) and Whitty (1998): Note how marketisation policies such as exam league tables and the funding formula reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities between schools.

Question 4

4. League tables and cream-skimming

Answer 4

• Publishing each school’s exam results in a league table ensures that schools that achieve good results are more in demand.
• Parents are attracted to those with good league table rankings.
• Bartlett (1993): Notes that this encourages…
• Cream-skimming: ‘good’ schools can be more selective and choose high achieving, mainly middle class pupils.
• These pupils then gain an advantage.
• Silt-shifting: ‘Good’ schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the school’s league table position.
• This reproduces class inequality as working-class children will dominantly attend lower forms of education while middle-class children will dominantly attend higher forms of education.

Question 5

1. Cream-skimming

2. Silt-shifting

Answer 5

1. Good schools can be more selective and choose high achieving, mainly middle class pupils.
2. Good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the school’s league table position.

Question 6

The Funding Formula

Answer 6

• Schools are allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they attract.
• Popular schools get more funds: better-qualified teachers and better facilities.
• This popularity allows them to be more selective and attract more able/ambitious generally middle-class applicants.

Question 7

Institute for Public Policy Research (2012)

Answer 7

Found that competition-oriented education systems such as Britain’s produce more segregation between children of different social backgrounds.

Question 8

Gerwitz: Parental Choice

Answer 8

• Increasing parental choice advantages middle-class parents whose economic and cultural capital puts them in a better position to choose ‘good schools’
• Gerwirtz (1995): study of 14 London secondary schools.
• 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 3 main types of parents…

Question 9

1. Privileged skilled choosers

Answer 9

• Mainly professional middle-class parents who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children.
• Due to their confidence, prosperity and high level of education they could take full advantage of the choices available to them.
• Cultural Capital: knew how school admissions systems work. Had time to visit schools and the skills to research the options available.
• Economic Capital: Meant they could afford to move their children around the education system to get the best deal out of it.

Question 10

2. Disconnected-local choosers

Answer 10

• These were working-class parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital.
• Found it difficult to understand school admissions procedures so could therefor not manipulate the system to their own advantage.
• Nearest school was often only option due to limited funds.

Question 11

3. Semi-skilled choosers

Answer 11

• These parents were also mainly working-class, they were ambitious for their children.
• They lacked cultural capital and found it difficult to make sense of the education market, often having to rely on other people’s opinions about schools.

Question 12

Gerwitz Conclusion

Answer 12

In practice middle-class parents possess cultural and economic capital and have more choice than working-class parents.

Question 13

The Myth of Parentocracy

Answer 13

• Not only does marketisation reproduce inequality; it also legitimises it by concealing its true causes and by justifying its existence.
• Ball: Although marketisation gives the appearance of a ‘parentocracy’,
• However, Ball argues that parentocracy is a myth as it makes it appear that all parents have the same freedom to choose which school their child attend.
• In reality, Gerwitz shows, middle-class parents are better able to take advantage of the choices available.
• Leech and Campos: show that middle-class parents can afford to move into the catchment areas of more desirable schools.
• By disguising the fact that schooling continues to reproduce class inequality in this way, the myth of parentocracy makes inequality in education appear fair and inevitable.