Education and social policy Flashcards
What did ‘The 1944 Education Act’ established?
Three types of schools under the ‘Tripartite system’:
- Grammar schools (11+ exam)
- Secondary modern school
- Technical school (vocational skills)
Comprehensives are intended to:
1.
2.
- break down class divisions by ensuring that everyone is educated equally
- created more equal opportunities
Criticisms of comprehensives schools
- They lowered standards by undermining the education offered by grammar schools
- They have poor discipline, making students problematic
- They were less successful than grammar schools in offering academic education
Guess the policy: (NEW RIGHT)
‘Competition would drive up standards, with poorer schools had to improve or teachers’ jobs were at risk’
Formula Funding and Open Enrolment
Guess the policy: (NEW RIGHT)
‘To ensure that basic skills are taught consistently, so school leavers are employable’
National Curriculum
Guess the policy: (NEW RIGHT)
‘To provide information at all levels of school education and to focus the effort of schools on achieving key targets’
Testing and attainment targets
Guess the policy: (NEW RIGHT)
‘To provide information to parents so that they could make rational decisions about choice of schools’
Introduction of league tables and regular, published inspections
Guess the policy: (NEW RIGHT)
‘Intended to provide more choice and greater variety in the education system, to encourage further competition’
Introduction of new types of school
Middle-class parents were usually privileged/skilled choosers, with cultural and financial benefits to get a better education
Stephen Ball et al. (1994)
Working-class parents were usually disconnected choosers, with limited access to private transport and social capital
Stephen Ball et al. (1994)
Criticisms of vocationalism:
‘The real purpose of vocational training as the creation of attitudes that made young people easily exploited workers’
Phil Cohen (1984)
Criticisms of vocationalism:
‘Training schemes for offering cheap labour for employers, who provided little real training’
Dan Finn (1987)
Guess the policy: (social democratic)
‘Extra resources provided for education in disadvantaged inner-city areas’
Excellence in Cities
Guess the policy: (social democratic)
‘Provided extra help for pre-school children in deprived areas’
Sure Start
Guess the policy: (social democratic)
‘New schools, partly sponsored by businesses, set up to replace failing comprehensive schools’
Academies
Guess the policy: (social democratic)
‘Provided payments of up to £30 a week to children from less affluent homes continuing in education after school’
Education Maintenance Allowances
Guess the policy: (social democratic)
‘Number of places in higher education was increased rapidly, nearly doubling between 1990 and 2004’
Expansion of higher education
Guess the policy: (neoliberal)
‘Schools could specialise in one of 10 areas and select up to 10% of pupils according to aptitude in the specialism’
Specialist schools
Guess the policy: (neoliberal)
‘Continued to be used and more details published, including ‘value-added scores based on progress’
Use of league tables
Guess the policy: (neoliberal)
‘Provided education, training, voluntary work or subsidised jobs for unemployed young people as well as support from personal advisers’
New Deal for Young People
Guess the policy: (neoliberal)
‘To improve the status of vocational qualifications, so they were not seen as second-rate’
Vocational GCSEs and A-levels
Guess the policy: (2010-2015)
‘Funded by the state but could be set up by businesses, religious organisations, parents or teachers’
Free schools
Guess the policy: (2010-2015)
‘A school performance measure that only took account of pupil performance in traditional academic subjects’
The EBacc (English Baccalaurete)
Guess the policy: (2010-2015)
‘Extra money from outside the main schools’ budget sent direct to schools based on the number of pupils in receipt of free school meals.’
Pupil Premium
What did David Cameron change about ‘maintenance grants’?
In 2015, maintenance grants for poorer students were removed and replaced by loans.
Who defines globalisation as referring to ‘both the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness the world as a whole’?
Roland Robertson (1992)
