EDUCATION 1.6 : EDUCATIONAL POLICIES Flashcards
what is the Tripartite system?
-Three types of secondary education; grammar schools for the top 15%, secondary moderns for those who failed the 11+, technical schools for the more vocational students
what are criticisms of the tripartite system
-Labels children at 11, little mobility between schools, socially divisive (coaching etc), grammar schools better funded, girls had to get a higher score to pass
what is the Comprehensive system?
-(from 1965 onwards) and brought in by a Labour government to try and end the class divide
Percentage of children in comprehensives by 1978:
-80%
Advantages of comprehensives:
-Less class divisive as all classes socialised and worked together, no academic test so avoidance of labelling as ‘failures’
Disadvantages of comprehensives
-Dependent on area; working and middle class areas, still divisions in streaming, but with mixed ability pupils are held back or struggle
what do functionalists think about the comprehensive system?
-AGREE: promotes social cohesion
what do marxists think about the comprehensive system?
-DISAGREE: streaming & labelling performs function needed to reproduce inequality = creates myth of meritocracy
what is Marketisation?
-Schools should compete against one another to attract the most students.
which sociological perspectives favour marketisation?
- THE NEW RIGHT + NEOLIBERALISTS
what is Parentocracy?
-The shifting of power from producers of education to the consumers (parents) which will encourage diversity and raise standards
1988 Education Reform Act:
-National Curriculum, SATs, National League Tables, local management of schools, formula funding, open enrolment and parental choice, OFSTED
-Marketisation, schools should compete to attract students eg. by using league tables.
who was in favour of parentocracy? (Advantages of 1988 Act)
-DAVID(1993) marketized education is a parentocracy (owned by parents= power shifts to consumers= diversity= higher standards
what is ‘cream-skimming’ ?
- ‘good’ school = more selective + admit m/c to maintain their ‘high’ rankings of their school
what is ‘silt-shifting’ ?
-‘good’ schools avoid taking less able pupils who are more likely to get poor results and damage rankings
how do league tables enable ‘cream-skimming’ and ‘silt-shifting’ to take place?
-w/c forced into inadequate schools where they will underachieve and the cycle continues with position of these schools not improving
what is the funding formula and what are it’s impacts?
-schools receive funding based on no. of students they attract
-popular school will receive the most funding and so less popular schools who need extra funding don’t get it
-more competition-orientated= more segregation with class backgrounds
Disadvantages of 1988 Act
Gerwitz; myth of parentocracy. Catchment areas most important, ‘pushy’ middle class parents can work the system but not the working class
(Gerwitz) what are 3 types of parents?
-privileged-skilled choosers: working professional m/c who have economic and cultural capital who will move to a better school (‘selection by mortgage’)
-disconnected-local choosers: w/c that find it difficult to understand, engage w/ choice and admission processes so don’t focus on the results of the school/ distance/ travel
-semi-skilled chooser; w/c who have ambitions for their children, have a lack of understanding so get frustrated at the barriers
The Myth of Parentocracy:
-They talk about parents choosing but it only relates to MC parents who have more capital and better able to make decisions.
-Evaluation: Choice; Better schools are likely to be over subscribed, but if places are available MC pupils will get it. Schools have choice, but only choose ideal students (white MC). Ball (2003) choice isn’t equal its class.
1997 New Labour policies
-Aimed to promote diversity and choice, similar to the conservative policies, targeting to support disadvantaged groups.
examples of 1997 New Labour policies:
-provided additional resources to deprived areas (EDUCATIONAL ACTION ZONES)
-raise aspirations of groups who are unrepresented
-payments (EMAs) to students from low-income background
-increased funding for state education
what is the ‘New Labour Paradox’ ?
-Benn(2012) labour introduced policies which deterred students from tuition fees and to abolish fee-paying private schools
what are Education Action Zones
(EAZ’s)
-Provides areas with high levels of unemployment, social and cultural deprivation, an investment to boost educational resources.
-CRITICISM-DOESN’T TACKLE PROBLEM OF MATERIAL DEPRIVATION AND POVERTY, MAY FAIL WITHOUT LOCAL CONSULTATION.
