Education Flashcards
Why might it be important to distinguish between rhetoric and actual policy when considering changes in education policy over time
Chitty (2014)
Although New Labour framed policies in new language of ‘social inclusion/cohesion’, actual policies revealed lack of substantive change
Key reforms of 1988 Education Act
- Quasi-market system (more parental choice + school funding based on pupil numbers)
- School league tables
- National curriculum
- National testing
- Devolved school powers
Different goals of education
- Economic (innovation, national competitiveness)
- Political (citizenship, social and cultural integration)
- Equity (social mobility, social inclusion)
Definition of high-stakes testing
Testing w/direct consequences for pupils and/or schools based on results (incl. streaming of pupils, or certificates at end of compulsory education)
Arguments FOR high-stakes testing
- Measure effectiveness of educational system and individual schools
- Identify learning needs and assess individual progress
- Inform policy reforms
Arguments AGAINST high-stakes testing
- Narrow curriculum
- Cream-skimming
- Focus on pupils at margins of success
- Devalue professional ethos
Centralising changes to education system
- National curriculum and assessment
- Increased powers for Secretary of State and decreased powers for local authorities (via expansion of academies)
- Publication of school league tables
- Public Ofsted reports
- Funds increasingly tied to central government initiatives
Decentralising changes to education system
- Devolved school budgets
- Schools able to ‘opt out’ of LEA control and become directly funded by central government
- Parental choice (in principle) over which schools children go to, w/right of appeal against decision (strictly a ‘right to express a preference’)
- Greater diversity of schools
When was Ofsted introduced?
1992
When were academy schools introduced?
2000
Education policy - extent of consensus in choice and quasi-markets?
- Consensus:
(i) Blair kept 1988 reforms and extended parental choice
(ii) 2005 White Paper aimed to establish what “would in one sense be a market” in education
Conflict:
(i) Some minor policy reversals by New Labour (e.g. abolished nursery school vouchers, ended assisted places scheme)
Examples of minor policy reversal by New Labour in choice/quasi-markets (education policy)?
New Labour:
- Abolished nursery school vouchers
- Ended assisted places scheme
What did 2005 education White Paper aim to establish?
What “would in one sense be a market” in education
What are academy schools able to do?
Opt out of LEA control and get central government funding
Education policy - extent of consensus in school diversity?
- Broad consensus on academy schools
- Though Labour focused academies on failing schools in deprived neighbourhoods, whereas now expanded massively
- Rapid acceleration of academy programme and introduction of free schools represented “step change” in school diversity (Furlong and Lunt 2014)
Furlong and Lunt (2014)
Rapid acceleration of academy programme and introduction of free schools under Coalition represented “step change” in school diversity
Rapid acceleration of academy programme and introduction of free schools under Coalition represented “step change” in school diversity
Furlong and Lunt (2014)
Evidence on expansion of academy programme under Coalition?
By 2012, > ½ secondary schools had/were about to become academies
What are free schools?
Schools created by voluntary groups/non-profit organisations, with government funding
How do academies and free schools have increased freedom? Constraints?
Freedoms:
- Don’t have to follow national curriculum
- Can vary teacher pay
Constraints:
- Subject to Ofsted inspections
- Curriculum followed must be “broad and balanced”
- Generally take same exams (GCSEs and A-Levels)
Education policy - extent of consensus in school spending?
Thatcher - significantly tightened public education spending
New Labour - rapidly increased education spending by 1% of GDP from 1999 to 2008 (doubling school budget)
Coalition - education budget protected, though planned school refurbishments cancelled and less investment vs New Labour
What was one of the only areas of real departure of Coalition education policy from New Labour, according to Chitty (2014)?
Slowdown in spending and investment, with planned refurbishments cancelled
Under New Labour, education spending rapidly increased by …..% of GDP from ….. to ….. (representing a ….. of the budget)
Under New Labour, education spending rapidly increased by 1% of GDP from 1999 to 2008 (representing a doubling of the budget)
Evidence of increased education spending and investment under New Labour?
- Education spending rapidly increased by 1% of GDP from 1999 to 2008 (representing a doubling of the budget)
- Building Schools for Future programme
(i) Equipped schools w/computers + electronic whiteboards - No. full-time teachers increased 11% 1997-2010
Under New Labour, the number of full-time teachers increased by …..% from ….. to ….., reducing class sizes
Under New Labour, the number of full-time teachers increased by 11% from 1997 to 2010, reducing class sizes
Evidence of increased teacher numbers under New Labour?
No. full-time teachers increased by 11% from 1997 to 2010
Education policy - extent of consensus in university funding?
- Labour recently called for the abolition of tuition fees following sharp increases under the Coalition government
- Despite recent conflict, can place this policy in context of broad continuity, w/Coalition arguably building on New Labour policy
- New Labour – initially introduced tuition fees in 2001 (£1k), followed by increase in 2004 (£3k)
Furlong and Lunt (2016)
DIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL POLICY WITHIN UK
- English educational policy assumed to be UK educational policy, but this assumption is flawed
- Reason – distinctive history of educational policy in different parts of UK means, accentuated further since formal devolution in 1999
How is education policy different in Northern Ireland?
- Faith schools have and continue to play far more significant role
- Almost ½ of 15 year-olds taught in grammar schools
- University tuition fees capped at £4k
How is education policy different in Scotland?
- Separate Scottish curriculum (much less prescriptive and detailed)
- Only 2 schools opted out of LEA control
- Less emphasis on competition
- More uniform school provision (mostly comprehensive)
- No tuition fees
How is education policy different in Wales?
- Far smaller private sector (~ ¼ of size of English private sector)
- Different national curriculum
- Fewer schools opted out of LEA control
- Significant tuition fee grants available
Paterson (2003)
- Developmentalist streak to New Labour education policy not emphasised by Conservatives (which aims to increase UK’s international competitiveness in context of globalisation)
2a. New Deals – almost 50% more young people entered full-time training and education option than expected)
2b. Individual Learning Accounts – signalled more interventionist role in lifelong learning policy (though later disbanded following evidence of fraud)
- English educational policy assumed to be UK educational policy, but this assumption is flawed
- Reason – distinctive history of educational policy in different parts of UK means, accentuated further since formal devolution in 1999
Furlong and Lunt (2016)
Why, according to Chitty (2009), did Blair largely retain Thatcher’s education reforms?
Wanted ‘voter-friendly’ policy that modernised party, reached out to middle-class voters and broadened appeal
Chitty (2009)
Blair largely kept Thatcher’s education reforms because he wanted ‘voter-friendly’ policy that modernised party, reached out to middle-class voters and broadened appeal
Examples of New Labour’s ‘developmentalist’ streak in education policy? (Paterson 2003)
- New Deals
2. Individual Learning Accounts
Evidence that school choice popular with voters
Flatney et al (2001)
- 90% of parents satisfied w/outcome of school choice
- 70% of parents satisfied w/process of school choice
- Attempt in 2007 to replace parental choice w/lottery scheme met w/local outcry
Flatney et al (2001)
POPULARITY OF PARENTAL CHOICE
- 90% of parents satisfied w/outcome of school choice
- 70% of parents satisfied w/process of school choice
- Attempt in 2007 to replace parental choice w/lottery scheme met w/local outcry
….. (2001)
- …..% of parents satisfied w/outcome of school choice
- …..% of parents satisfied w/process of school choice
- Attempt in ….. to replace parental choice w/lottery scheme met w/local outcry
Flatney et al (2001)
- 90% of parents satisfied w/outcome of school choice
- 70% of parents satisfied w/process of school choice
- Attempt in 2007 to replace parental choice w/lottery scheme met w/local outcry
Example of education policy stopped due to electoral incentives
- Indications that, privately, Gove wanted to expand grammar schools
- But electoral incentives + historical unpopularity prevented expansion
How did New Labour promote school diversity?
- Extra funding for specialist schools (extra £500k every 3 years)
- Launched 1st academies in 2002 (legislation in 2000)
How did Coalition promote school diversity?
- Rapid acceleration of academy programme
2. Introduction of free schools
How did Thatcher increase central control of schooling?
- National curriciulum
2. National testing
How did New Labour increase central control of schooling?
- National literacy and numeracy strategies (all primary schools required to allocate, w/content and method of teaching prescribed by central government)
- Academy programme
How did Major increase central control of schooling?
Introduced Ofsted in 1992
Difficulties in measuring improvements in educational standards
- Grade inflation (e.g. sudden jump in pass rates in 1988 following move from O-levels to GCSEs)
- Time lags
- Subjects/curricula themselves change
- Teaching to the test
- Schools’ attempts to manipulate exam performance (e.g. by encouraging pupils to take easier subjects)
- Difficult to control for changing social factors over time
Example of grade inflation
Sudden jump in pass rates in 1988 following move from O-levels to GCSEs
Empirical evidence that competition improves school exam results
- Bradley and Taylor (2002) – increased competition between schools led to significant improvement in exam results
- Bradley and Taylor (2009) – 20-25% of improvement in exam performance 1992-2006 attributed to quasi-market reforms
- Belfield and Levin (2002) - literature review found reasonably consistent positive effect of competition (though effects modest and over 1/3 estimates not statistically significant)
Bradley and Taylor (2009)
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND QUASI-MARKET REFORMS
20-25% of improvement in exam performance 1992-2006 attributed to quasi-market reforms
Bradley and Taylor (2002)
EFFECT OF SCHOOL COMPETITION
- Increased competition between schools led to significant improvement in exam results
- Size of effect much greater w/larger number of schools within 1km radius
- Some evidence of widening gap in social composition of school, but strength of effect = small
Bradley and Taylor (2009)
……% of improvement in exam performance from ….. to ….. attributed to quasi-market reforms
Bradley and Taylor (2009)
20-25% of improvement in exam performance from 1992 to 2006 attributed to quasi-market reforms
- Evidence that competition more effective in areas with greater geographic concentration of schools
- Why?
- Bradley and Taylor (2002) – competition boosts exam performance overall, but size of effect much greater w/larger number of schools within 1km radius
- In rural areas, geographical dispersion means there’s little effective competition between schools