Education - Education Policy Flashcards
When was compulsory education introduced & what ages did it affect?
1880 -> ages 5-13
When was the tripartite system introduced & by which government?
1944 -> conservative government
Which 3 schools were introduced by the tripartite system?
Grammar, secondary modern & secondary technical
What were the objectives of the tripartite system?
Built on meritocracy & wanted to increase equality of opportunity through the 11+ exams
What were some limitations of the tripartite system?
Class inequalities -> grammar schools were taken up by middle classes & the secondary moderns were mostly taken up by lower classes
Deterministic -> IQ test determined people’s future at very young age so there was no room for growth later in life
Labelling -> some secondary moderns had low standards & labelled 80% of their students as failures
When was the comprehensive system introduced & by which government?
1965 - labour
What are comprehensive schools?
Schools that do not select pupils based on academic ability
What were the objectives of comprehensive schools?
To increase equality of opportunity
What were some limitations of the comprehensive system?
Little parental choice -> every school essentially the same
Banding & streaming across social classes (working class in lower bands vs middle class in higher bands)
Poor standards in some schools
When was the Education Reform Act introduced & by which government?
1988 -> the new right
Who was the prime minister during the ERA?
Margaret Thatcher
What did the ERA introduce?
League tables
Formula funding
The national curriculum
OFSTED
What were the objectives of the ERA?
To encourage marketisation & privatisation
What is a strength of the ERA?
Competition did increase standards -> results gradually improved through the 1990s
What were some limitations of the ERA?
League tables encouraged ‘teaching to test’
Selection by mortgage -> house prices increased in catchment areas of the best schools which forces out the poorer parents
Cream skimming -> the best schools took the best students who were predominantly middle class
What did the new labour government of 1997 introduced?
EMA
Free school meals
Sure start
Increased funding for education
Tuition fees -> uni
Who was the prime minister in 1997?
Tony Blair
What is EMA & what was the objective?
Education Maintenance Allowance -> paid to students aged 16-19 from lower income families if they attended all their lessons & achieved all their targets to help them with the hidden costs of education
What are some strengths of the 1997 new labour policies?
Early academies increased standards in poorer areas
Better at improving equality of opportunity than the new right
What were the negatives of the 1997 new labour policies?
Costly
Parents liked sure start but it didn’t improve education (improved health)
Tuition fees for higher education put working class pupils off going to uni
What changes did the coalition government bring in?
Academisation
Free schools
Pupil premium
When was the coalition government policies introduced?
2010
Which prime minister introduced the coalition policies?
David Cameron
What were the coalition government made up of?
Conservatives & Lib Dems
What were some strengths of the coalition government?
Standards continued to improve
What are some limitations of the coalition government’s policies?
Academisation & free schools are both ideology -> there’s no evidence they improve standards more than LEA schools
Free schools advantaged the middle class
Pupil premium -> too early to say
