Education

Question 1

In what year did education become compulsory in Victorian Britain? And at what age?

Answer 1

1880

Aged ten

Question 2

What did the 1902 education act achieve?

Answer 2

The 1902 Education Act made local authorities responsible for education.

Question 3

The 1944 Butler Act was brought about when?

Answer 3

The 1944 Butler Act named after R. A. Butler – the then Labour Education Minister, came into being amidst a post-Second World War political consensus; Keynesian Social Democracy and theory of full employment, driven by the desire to avoid a return to the economic environment of the great depression of 1926.

Question 4

What is the name of the first Act in the 19th century that implicates the state’s first involvement in education ?

Answer 4

1870 Elementary Education Act

(1) elected to school boards and
(2) established non-compulsory education for children aged between five and 13 years of age.

Question 5

What were Beveridge’s (1942) Five Giants ?

Answer 5

Beveridge’s Five Giants are Want; Ignorance; Disease; Idleness and Squalor. Ignorance corresponding to education.

Question 6

What four things did the 1944 Butler Education Act achieve?

Answer 6

(1) made secondary education both compulsory and free
(2) created local education authorities (LEAs)
(3) Introduced tripartite system
(4) established a tiered system of education comprising infant, primary, secondary modern, and further education.

Question 7

Describe the tripartite system of education.

Answer 7

The tripartite system of education incorporated by the 1944 Education Act (Butler Act), primarily categorised pupils at the age of 11 based upon the 11 plus examination. Grammar schools were available for the academic children; secondary modern schools for the non-academic children and technical schools available for vocational studies (not academic). All ran alongside the existing Private-public fee paying system.

Question 8

Tripartite reform?

Answer 8

Faced with poor economic growth, Harold Wilson’s 1964 Labour government, whose objectives were to modernise Britain, looked to reform the tripartite system. In its place a comprehensive educational system which was hoped would provide a greater pool of talent and be more equitable than the ‘separatist’ tripartite system.

Question 9

how was the comprehensive system inaugurated?

Answer 9

A comprehensive system was inaugurated by the 10/65 circular introduced in 1965 by Anthony Crossland, the then Labour minister of education. The objective of cuircular 10/65 was to scrap the unjust 11+ examination and put an end to the ‘separatist, system’ it is called for existing schools keep to convert or build comprehensive schools. 90 per cent of childen were to attend comprehensive schools by 1981.

Question 10

Describe the principles of the Conservative right wing ideology

Answer 10

Principles for the right-wing conservative ideology is individualist; selective principles; a basic minimum of security and opportunity and a small welfare state

Question 11

What criticisms of a levels at the tripartite system?

Answer 11

The tripartite system was criticised for being structured hierarchally, in that it categorised children purely based on whether they passed the 11+ examination. With those children who passed the 11+ examination regarded as ‘successful’ and those who did not pass the 11+ examination regarded as ‘failures’. Ultimately the tripartite system was considered to have valued academic students over non academic students resulting in a bipartite system with the minority of children attending grammar schools and the majority attending secondary modern schools.

Question 12

Conservative reforms during their time in government 1979 to 1997 (Thatcher major)

Answer 12

1980 education act

1988 education reform act

Question 13

what did the 1980 education act provide?

Answer 13

The 1980 education act provided parents with greater choice in admissions and created an assisted places scheme which was funded directly by the state. Despite the provision of 55,000 places only 4000 places were taken up.

Question 14

What did the 1988 Education Reform Act achieve?

Answer 14

The 1988 Education Reform Act was probably the most critical of the Conservative’s time in government, in terms of embedding marketisation of education. By introducing a National Curriculum, which made the comparison between schools possible, as all schools were to undertaken a strict regime of subjects to be studied, and the possibility thereafter of the publication of league tables, which compounded by the creation of OFSTED in 1992, meant that competition was made possible, not only between the schools but also between parents fighting for their places in the best schools for their children. Additionally there is a format introduced grand maintained schools which are funded directly from the state and not the LEAs which ultimately meant a weakening of their power. Furthermore, along with the erosion of LEAs power, the 1980s saw further increased diversification and weakening of the common school idea.

Question 15

describe market based education

Answer 15

Market-based education basically means the marketisation the education system precipitated by increasing desire for parental choice by the vehicle of competition between schools and between parents. This is a reflection of the right wing ideology of the Conservative party; the possessive individualism and desire for privatisation and free market competition of neoliberal society. Hence the choice and therefore the responsibility lay with the individual: the parent.

Question 16

Describe the basic principles of Labour left wing ideology

Answer 16

redistribution of income and wealth through taxation. Egalitarian and collective values.

Question 17

how was the marketisation of the education system made possible?

Answer 17

Marketisation of the education system was made possible by the introduction of fees; league tables; OFSTED which was incorporated in 1992 and the introduction of a universal, National Curriculum. which basically allowed schools to be compared and therefore competition was instilled between parents and schools.

Question 18

What was the main objective of the 1997 labour manifesto

Answer 18

The labour manifesto of 1997 “higher education cannot be funded out of taxation”. It was therefore the objective of the ‘New Labour’ government that funding for higher education should be repaid by students on an income-related basis.

Question 19

What reforms took place under ‘New Labour’ 1997 to 2007 (Blair) 2007 - 2010 (Brown)

Answer 19

The new Labour government in 1997 introduced the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) which was available to students between 16 and 18 years of age in, full time education (although it was means tested). Furthermore the new Labour government’s goal was to increase attendance at degree level University to 50%.

Question 20

Who introduced university tuition fees?

Answer 20

The new Labour government of the 1990s introduced university tuition fee in 1998 at £1000 and in 2004 top up fees amounting to £3000, as predicted by Page and Silburn (1999) New Labour were seen to simulate the American neo-liberal model.

Question 21

what happened under the new Labour Blair government of the 1990s?

Answer 21

Diversification and increased marketisation continued in the 1990s and into the twenty-first century under ‘New Labour’. By 2002 there were 174 new grammar school and 367 technology colleges, testament to Blair’s infamous mantra “education, education, education”.

Question 22

Coalition Government ?

Answer 22

(1) FREE schools
(2) Scrapped EMA
(3) Increased tuition fees to a ceiling of £9000 as well as removing teaching grants

Question 23

What happened under the coalition government in 2010?

Answer 23

The Coalition government of 2010 which comprised of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties with David Cameron as Prime Minister and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats as Deputy Prime Minister, administered further educational reforms and further diversification with the introduction of free schools. Free schools where free inasmuch as they were free from LEA control’ being funded directly from the state, also free from the constraints of the national curriculum. Free schools could be established by anyone who met the criteria.

Question 24

At the end of the day …..

Answer 24

Universities have become providers and students have become customers who shop around for the best deal. Furthermore there has been a shift from who pays: from the tax payers to the beneficiaries who are the parents, students and employers, which bears a significant resemblance to Victorian times when prior to 1891 elementary education was paid for by the working class. Thus we have a return to 19th-century laissez-faire ideology with European subsidised education of which university tuition fees and maintenance loans are contemporary examples. The role of the state ultimately has been rolled back from a time when the state would pay for education and there existed a role for central and local government, there existed concerns for standards not only an economic but also a social rational (Page and Silver 1999)