Education - Policies Flashcards
What was the 1944 Education Act?
Established the tripartite system (grammar, technical, secondary modern)
The 11+ dictated which school you’d go to and was based on the belief that the level and abilities the child had was ‘fixed’ at birth and based on inheritance
What was a technical school?
They generally prepared children to be a lower middle/skilled manual working class
What was the statistic for who got to go to grammar school
15-20%
What were the criticisms of the tripartite system?
11+ was unfairly disadvantaging children from working class homes
The self-esteem of children was damaged if they failed and were sent to second rate schools
Research in the 50s and 60s suggested talent, ability and potential of many children in secondary modern were being wasted
When was the tripartite system abolished?
1968
What schools replaced the tripartite system?
Comprehensive schools
How many children in 2005 attended a comprehensive school?
Nine out of ten
How many grammar schools remained in 2005?
164
What are the different types of comprehensive schools?
‘True’ comprehensive schools have mixed ability classes
Most comprehensive schools do have selection by ability because of streaming
What are secondary ‘specialist’ schools?
Schools could specialise in max 2 subjects
They were allowed to select up to 10% of students by ability
They would also get extra funding
This was abolished in 2011
Why are they questioning whether to return to selection?
Political leaders have a grammar school background
‘League tables’ and judging schools and colleges on results
There is a return to streaming in schools (‘tripartite under the same roof’)
What was the Butler Education Act (1944)?
It introduced free secondary education up to age 15 years for all nd resulted in the tripartite system
How was the Butler Education Act (1944) meant to be meritocratic?
All children took an 11+ at age 11 that was meant to allocate them to the school that suited them best
How did the Butler Education Act fail at being meritocratic?
Few technical schools were built The 11+ IQ test was not culture-fair and middle class students, with more cultural capital, dominated grammar schools
What are EPAs?
Educational priority areas
What inspired EPAs being formed?
Many cultural and material deprivation theories inspired it (e.g. Douglas (1964) poorer parents were less likely than middle class parents to take an interest in the education of their children)
What were the aims of EPAs?
Compensate for poverty
Why were EPAs abandoned?
‘Schools cannot compensate for society’ Bernstein
What are the benefits of comprehensive schools?
Mixed ability teaching means more intelligent pupils can help boost lower ability students
Late developers are catered for better in comprehensive systems
Children are less likely to branded as a failures at an early age
Teaches wider range of subjects
Fewer social divisions
More students leave with better qualifications
Opportunities remain open throughout a child’s school career
What are the negatives of comprehensive schools?
Brighter students are held back by a slower pace of learning
Brighter students are better ‘stretched’ by streaming and selections
Comprehensives are so big talents can be overlooked and there can be discipline problems
While grammar schools still exist, they take the most able students, so comprehensives are more similar to secondary moderns
What is pupil premium?
Extra funding to schools to improve educational outcomes of disadvantaged students which they can spend on general teaching, targeted support for disadvantaged pupils and for breakfast clubs and trips
When was pupil premium introduced and by which government?
2011
Conservative — Liberal Democrat Coalition
What are the criticisms of pupil premium?
Spent to plug gaps in general school funding (not reaching disadvantaged kids)
Lack of school funding is the problem and pupil premium doesn’t make up the difference
Money spent onLearning Assistants aren’t the best way to help disadvantaged kids
Schools aren’t specific about what they spend it on (lack of accountability)
When was Sure Start introduced and by which government?
1998
Labour
What is Sure Start?
A centre to help with childcare, parenting, early education, health and family support
What are the criticisms of Sure Start?
An evaluation of 150 Sure Start areas with over 7,000 families found that they did little to help child development
What are the positives of Sure Start?
Valued and helpful to parents
Lower levels of childhood obesity
What is Educational Maintenance Allowance?
Student funding for 16-19 years olds going onto higher education
Who and when was EMA introduced?
Labour
1999