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Sociology - Education + class, ethnicity, theory and methods > EDUCATION: Educational policies > Flashcards

EDUCATION: Educational policies Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

When was the tripartite system created

and when did it end

A

1944

1965

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2
Q

Define the tripartite system

What principles was it based on and according to what exam

A
  • A system of selective education that was introduced by the 1944 Education Reform Act. Entailed 3 schools; Grammar, Secondary Modern, Secondary Technical.
  • Was based on meritocracy because it was according to the 11+ exam which selected which school they would go to based on their abilities
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3
Q

Tripartite system

  • Who introduced it
  • What were its main aims
A
  • Conservative

Meritocratic education system with

  • Selective education: Students received different education standards based on their ability
  • Equality of opportunity: All students in England and Wales had the chance of sitting the 11+ exam
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4
Q

What STATISTICS L were the results of the 11+ exams and what did it prove

A
  • Top 20% went to grammar schools
  • Bottom 80% went to secondary moderns
  • Technical schools died out quickly

Proved inequality because the minority (wealthy) are receiving the best education

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5
Q

What are criticisms of the tripartite system and what theories specifically do they link to

  • Marxist
  • Feminist
  • Overall
A 
- As marxists would argue, it reproduces class inequalities 
By channelling 2 social classes into 2 different types of schools
  • As Feminists would argue, it produced gender inequality
    By girls being downgraded to equalise the genders succeeding
  • legitimates the harsh ideology of inborn ability
    By determining children’s iq from a young age, not giving time for those who are still developing
  • There were different pass rates in different areas
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6
Q

When was comprehensive schooling introduced

A

1965 onwards

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7
Q

Define a comprehensive school

A

A state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement of aptitude

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8
Q

Who was it introduced by and what are comprehensive schools main aims
- how was this achieved

A
  • Labour
  • Aims of overcoming class inequalities of the tripartite system - make education more meritocratic
  • 11+ exam abolished, grammar and secondary modern was replaced by comprehensive schools that all pupils in the area would attend
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9
Q

What are some criticisms of the comprehensive schools

  • Standards? Parents?
  • Banding and streaming?
  • Meritocratic?
  • Government authority?
A
  • Poor standards in some schools
  • Parents had little choice in education - all schools were thought to provide the same education
  • Banding and streaming occurred along social class lives - working class ended up in lower bands etc.
  • Wasn’t meritocratic - wasn’t based on ability so some students still failed
  • As it was up to government authority, not all schools went comprehensive
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10
Q

What are Functionalist and Marxist views on comprehensive schools

A

Functionalist: Also meritocratic as it gives pupils a longer time to show their ability
It promotes social integration by bringing children to different backgrounds together in one school.
HOWEVER, a study by Ford (1969) found little evidence for social mixing because of streaming

Marxism: Are not meritocratic and reproduce class inequalities through the practise of streaming and labelling. 
Provides the 'myth of meritocracy' by legitimating class inequalities by making unequal achievement seem fair because failure is the result of the individual.
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11
Q

1988 Education Act

  • Who
  • Inspired by
  • main aims
A
  • Conservative government - Margaret Thatcher
  • Neoliberalism and New right
  • Introduce free market principles
  • Greater parental choice and control over sate education
  • Raise standards in education
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12
Q

What policies were introduced to produce the 1988 Education Act
- (promoting equality)

A
  • Marketisation and parentocracy
  • League tables
  • OFSTED
  • National curriculum
  • Formula funding
  • Open enrolment
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13
Q

Define paentocracy

A

A system where a child’s education must conform to the wishes of a parent rather than that of the pupils abilities

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14
Q

What did Miriam David (1993) state about parentocracy

  • (For parentocracy)
A

In an education market, power shifts from the producers to the consumers (parents)
- This is claimed to encourage diversity among schools, giving parents more choice and raises standards

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15
Q

What are some positive criticisms of the 1988 ERA

A
  • Competition did increase standards
  • No successive government has changed the fundamentals of the act, which means its working
  • The principle of competition has been integrated internationally
  • Increased choice of schools
  • More private investment in education from uni’s and charities
  • Increased uni attendance
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16
Q

What are some negative criticisms of the 1988 ERA

  • Effect among pupils
  • Reproduction of class inequality
  • Selective schools
A
  • EFFECT AMONG PUPILS
    • Overstress in young pupils due to the intensity of tests
    • League tables causes ‘teaching to the test’, which hiders children’s creativity
  • REPRODUCTION OF INEQUALITY
    • Selection by mortgage
    • Transport costs
    • Gewritz - types of parents
  • SELECTIVE SCHOOLS - BARLETT
    • Cream-skimming: ‘good schools’ choose only high achieving middle class students to keep their position high in the league table
    • Silt shifting: The opposite where ‘good’ schools avoids taking less able students to keep a good reputation
17
Q

Gewirtz: parental choice

  • Study evidence
  • Conclusion
A

STUDY EVIDENCE: Studied 14 different schools in London and found class differences due to parents who he categorised as:

Privileged skilled choosers: Have economic and cultural capitals and use that to gain higher education for their children
Disconnected local choosers: Limited choices due to lack of economic and cultural capital
Semi-skilled choosers: Unlike disconnected local choosers they were ambitious for their child’s education

CONCLUSION: By increasing parental choice and marketisation the middle class pupils benefit from their parents good economic and cultural capital

18
Q

Explain the myth of parentocracy

A
  • Marketisation reproduces and legitimates class inequalities by concealing its true causes
  • From Gewirtz study, working class parents have disadvantages, showing that not ALL parents have choice in their child’s education
19
Q 
How does the funding formula produce class inequalities 
- Cycle of selection
A

Funding formula is based on how many pupils schools attract so..

  • Popular schools = more funds = better qualified teachers and facilities
  • Unpopular schools = less pupils and lose funds = less qualified teachers and facilities
  • Inevitably, this process in schools cause a cycle of selection;
    The next best school will get the next best students and so on and so forth till schools at the bottom become ‘sink schools’ and progressively get worse
20
Q

When was the New Labour government in power and what was the main aims for them in education

A
  • In power from 1997 - 2010
  • Wanted to reduce inequality that had increased due to marketisation
  • Increase diversity and choice
  • improve standards
21
Q

What educational policies did New Labour develop

A

Developed:

  • Expanded the role of SPECIALIST SCHOOLS - Presented more diversity and gave more parental choice
  • Increased the number of assessment and targets schools were subjected to - Increased the information that had to be given in LEAGUE TABLES ‘value added’
22
Q 
What educational policies did New Labour introduce and what party is it inspired by 
(Categorised by the main aims)
- Inequality
- Standards
- Diversity
A 
Inspired by Social Democratic views
INEQUALITY:
- Education Action Zones
- Sure Start 
- EMA's

(SEE - like see the problem of social inequality that needs to be fixed)

STANDARDS

  • Excellence in cities (EIN)
  • City academies
  • Aim Higher programme to raise aspirations (AH)
  • National Literacy Strategy (NLS)
  • Increased funding for state education

DIVERSITY:
- (EIN)

23
Q

(EVALUATION) What positive outcomes came from New Labour’s educational policies

A
  • Standards did improve
  • Greater choice + diversity
  • ‘Learning society’ where learning is highly valued and opportunities for adults were introduced to learn new skills to adapt to the changing economy
24
Q

(EVALUATION) What criticisms are there of New Labour’s educational policies

  • Did it improve inequality?
Attainment gap 
specialist schools 
tuition fees
private schools
city academies

test focused

failure?

A

Did not improve INEQUALITY due to…

  • The attainment gap between children of different classes from selection of schools by cream skimming etc.
    • Specialist schools raised standards but only because they selected a disproportionate amount if middle class children
  • Introduction of tuition fees
  • Private schools being continued
  • City academies - rich can shape the curriculum
  • Schools were too test focused
  • Most of their policies failed - EIN and Sure Start were ultimately a waste of money
25
Q

What does Melisso Benn (2012) say about New Labours education policies

A
  • Sees contradiction and calls it the ‘New Labour Paradox’

- Fore example, despite introducing EMAS, Labour also introduced tuition fees, disadvantaging working class pupils

26
Q

What does Paul Trouler (2003) say about New Labours education policies

A
  • Labour were unrealistic in tackling social class inequalities because it can’t take just school to tackle deep-rooted social class inequalities
27
Q

When was a Coalition government formed, between which parties and what were they influenced by

A
  • 2010 - 15
  • Conservative and Lib-dems
  • Influenced by New Right / neoliberal ideas on reducing the role of the state in education
28
Q

What policies did the Coalition government introduce within education institutions and evaluate them

A
  • Increasing academies: Any school could convert to academies
    (-) - Majority of parents did not want schools to become academies
    (-) - Little evidence that they academically do better than LEA schools
    (-) - Focus of reducing inequality was removed because every school could become an academy now unlike Labour where the most disadvantaged schools became academies
  • Free Schools: Non-profit making and state funded
    (-) - Cause unpopularity and therefore drainage for other schools
    (-) - Benefit high class children - matter of using tax payer money (Allen(
    (+) - provide more parentocracy
29
Q

What policies did the Coalition government introduce to tackle inequality

A
  • Pupil Premium (PP) - Money each schools receives from a disadvantages background (The PP did not always get spent on those it was supposed to help)
  • FSM
  • Bursary scheme - Replaced the EMA targeted at lowest income households which were given to the school instead of the individual
  • Bursary scheme in Uni - Required to promote access to HE, gave a bursary to lowest income household students
30
Q

What did the Coalition government get rid of from New Labours education policies

A
  • Sure Start centres closed
  • EMA was abolished
  • University tuition fees were triples to £9,000 a year
  • Spending on many areas of education was cut
31
Q

What does Ball (2011) suggest the promotion of Academies and Free Schools do

A
  • Led to increased fragmentation and centralisation of control

Fragmentation: Replaced with patch work to diverse provision, creating inequality

32
Q

What does Allen (2010) evaluate about Free schools

A
  • Only highly educated pupils benefit

-

33
Q

What are some positive and negative overall evaluations of the Coalition government and their education policies

A

+

  • Standards continued to increase
  • Spending less
  • Lower attainment gap between FSM and non FSM pupils
  • No more coursework, some pupils may not have agreed to that
  • Free Schools reducing funds for local schools by taking more pupils
  • Scrapping the EMA lowered the pupils going into HE
  • Tripling university fees increased inequality
34
Q

Define comprehensive school

A

A school that does not select its intake on individual achievement or merit

Sociology - Education + class, ethnicity, theory and methods (32 decks)

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