Class and achievement Marketisation and selection - Internal Flashcards
How was Marketisation of education introduced and what was its principles? Also how is it regulated?
Marketisation of education was introduced by the Education Reform Act 1988.
According to this policy, education is based on market principles which:
1)Increase competition between education suppliers (schools) to attract the most students + get the best results.
2)Give customers (parents & students) product choice (choice between schools).
The product (schools) is regulated through Ofsted and league tables.
‘Bad’ product will be eliminated by the market as parents will not choose the ‘failing’ schools, these school will get less funding and eventually close down.
What did the Education policy introduce to create marketisation of education?
The Education Reform Act introduced the following in order to marketise education:
1) Open enrolment – parents can send their child(ren) to any school of their choice.
2) Formula funding - all schools get an amount of money from the government per student (£3000). The more students a school has, the more money it gets.
3) Competition - therefore, schools have to compete against each other to attract more students. They do this through Ofsted reports and…
4) Exam league tables – published annually to show the % of pupils who gain 5+ A-C grades. Schools with high % of students gaining 5+ A-C attract more students thus getting more money.
What is the A-C Economy? Also, define what educational triage means.
Criticism of marketisation:
Gillborn + Youdell argue marketisation of education contributes to widening gap in achievement b/w w/c + m/c students.
This happens via the A-C economy - a system through which schools allocate time, resources + effort towards those pupils they perceive as having the potential to get 5+ A-C grades. These students tend to come from m/c backgrounds.
Educational triage – a process through which teachers decide which students have the greatest chance of getting 5+ A-C.
What is a triage?
Triage – sorting.
A & E department – the triage nurse decides the seriousness of injury and order in which a person will get treated.
So, treatment in A&E departments is not based on first come-first serve basis, but on the need to be treated.
Explain educational triage
Gillborn and Youdell argue that teachers carry out educational triage - they decide which students:
Will get A* - C – they don’t need extra help.
Will fail – they’re beyond saving – nothing teachers do will help them so there’s no point.
Borderline students – likely get a D, but may also get a C with a little bit of extra help from the teacher. These are the students who then get extra help, e.g. mentoring.
How does marketisation of education force schools to carry out educational triage?
- Schools compete to get best students so need to do something to attract them
- Carry out educational triage and selection to attract best students
- High % of students gaining A*-C grades
- More students =more funding
Explain selection
Bartlett
When children apply for a place in a secondary school, marketisation allows popular schools to:
Cream-skim – select the high ability students who will get A*-C and offer them a place at the school. These students tend to be from middle class backgrounds.
Silt-shift – reject applications from students with learning difficulties or behavioural problems – as these are likely to underachieve. These students tend to be from working class backgrounds.
Thus, high achieving schools ensure they continue to get excellent results as they make sure their students are the kind of students that will do well, i.e. middle class.
Explain selection - ‘Attracting the right sort of parents’
Gewirtz
One way through which schools attract middle class parents is through the home school contracts. If these are particularly ‘wordy’ and demanding of parents, some, usually w/c parents are likely to be put off and not apply to the school.
Ball
Schools spend money on advertising themselves through expensive brochures or professionally designed websites in order to attract parents often at the expense of actually investing in teaching resources.
