Education policies Flashcards
What are the 8 policies/Acts you need to know?
- 1988 Education Reform Act
- The Butler 1944 Act
- The Tri-partite system
- Comprehensivisation
- 1997- New Labour Education policy
- Compensatory education
- Key vocational policies of the New Right in the 1980’s
- Vocational Education under New Labour: 1997 to the present
What is the Acrynom for education policies?
Children Might Do Badly given your wealth Ben
Chubb and Moe- Marketization David- Parentocracy Ball- curriculum of the dead Gilborn and Youdell Whitty- Middle class have advantages Ben- Criticised New labour policies actaully increased inequalities- £1000 to £3000
What did the 1988 Educational Reform act say?
- Main objective was to increase overall standards
- Schools should be run like businesses- competing with each other for pupils (‘consumers’) Known as marketisation
- Parents given choice of what schools they send their children to (parentocracy) rather than being limited to school in their catchment area
- Successful schools given money to expand
- SAT’s tests were used, GCSEs and A-Levels results for League tables so parents could see best schools
- OFSTED was introduced
- National curriculum introduced to set up standard for teaching for a range of subjects
The New right and the 1988 Reform act what did it say?
- The new right refers to the conservative, right wing political beliefs
- The underlying principals of the new right are:
- They believe state government cannot meet peoples needs.
- The most efficient way is through the ‘free market’- Through private businesses competing with each other
Economic growth is an important overall goal so allowing individuals freedom to compete with each other was key idea.
New right- What and how did the ‘education market’ lead to league tables and New vocationalism?
Name the 3 ways
- New right created education market. which meant schools were run like businesses (parentocracy)
This lead to League tables being established - Schools should teach subjects that prepare pupils for work e.g education supporting economic growth E.g New vocationalism
- The state was to provide a framework in order to ensure that schools were all teaching the same thing and transmitting the same shared values.
E,g National curriculum evaluation of the New right
what is the evaluation of the New right and 1988 reform Act?
And how did it affect classes
- Competition between schools benefitted middle classes and lower classes
- Ethnic minorities and rural communities ended up having less effective choice
- Vocational education was poor
- National curriculum has been criticised for being ethnocentric and too restrictive on teachers and schools
What are the positives of the 1988 Educational Reform act? (4 positives)
- League tables show standards have improved
- Made education more responsive to the needs of parents
- National curriculum meant that nightmare of progressive education didnt occur in the 1990’s (No William Tyndale schools)
- Competition has forced schools to make better use of resources ( Better efficiency)
What did William Tyndale school Affair 1974 do?
- Let students do whatever they wanted during open periods
- No where was off limits for students
- Gambling permitted
- Milk bottles thrown at young g’s
- Attendence dropped from 230 to 55
What are Criticisms of 1988 Education act?
- focussed too much ion exam results- leading to stress (Harmful effects especially when over-testing students)
- League tables distort teaching and learning. Schools increasingly ‘teach to test’ to look good in league tables which effect students’ creative subjects because they put more emphasis on core subjects
League tables also give no indication of how schools are doing beyond league tables - Middle classes had more effective choice because of their higher incomes.
Selection by mortgage- housing in catchment areas of best schools are more expensive meaning they more likely to get in best schools.
Transport costs- middle class parents more able t get their children to wider range of schools e.g more likely to own two cars
- Schools becoming more selective
- Polarisation of schools
What does Stephen Ball (2003) say?
- Middle classes more cultural and social capital.
- He refers to these parents as ‘skilled choosers’
- They are more used to dealing with talking to teachers and if entry to school limited more likely to gain a place for their child
- Ball refers to working class parents as ‘disconnected choosers’
- Just settle for sending their children to local school, they have no real choice
What did the Tripartite system- The Butler 1944 Act say/do?
- ## The Butler 1944 Act introduced the Tri-partite system of Education to give pupils equal chance of education-All pupils sat 11+ test
- This was done to see abilities of pupils and determining what school they went to from ages 11-15 years of age
What were the state-funded education structure of the 3 different types of schools?
- Grammar schools
- Secondary technical school
- Secondary modern school
Strengths of the Butler 1994 Act
- Gave children from deprived background opportunity to first class education
- Gave opportunity of education for all up to 15 years of age
- Reduced inequalities arising from those attending paying schools
Limitations of the Butler 1944 Butler Act
- Favoured rich and middle classes
- Mainly working class pupils in secondary moderns were labelled as failures and lacked motivation to succeed
- Girls achieved higher marks than boys in 11+ exam, but mark was set higher because of fewer grammar places for girls
What did Comprehensivisation do?
- As the Tripartite system failed to create equality for opportunity ( Labour government of 1965) comprehensive schools were introduced as it was felt that educating e=all children under ‘one big roof’ no matter of class, gender, ethnicity to keep it fairer.
- Labour pressed LEAs ( Location education authorities) to convert grammar schools into comprehensives
Strengths of Comprehenivisation
- Equality for all under one roof
- Broad curriculum provided
- More opportunity for every child take exams
- Provided more sport and recreational activities
Limitations of Comprehensivisation
- Didn’t live up to ideal because admissions were based on catchment areas meaning social mixing was unlikely
- Tripartite system continued in some areas and independent education remained an option fr the wealthy
- Most classes were organised by ability e.g streaming
What were the three main strands of the 1997 New Labour education policy?
- Raising standards- Building on what the New Right had done previously
- Increasing diversity and choice within education
- Improving equality of opportunity
What were the policies that were designed to improve standards? 1997 New Labour
- Class sizes reduced to 30
- Literacy and Numeracy Hour
- Extension of school e.g children now start at 4 and leaving age is raised to 18
- Higher education- Expanded the number of places available in universities
how were the New labour policies designed to reduce inequality of opportunity?
Raising standards: Class size 30/literacy and numeracy hour/ 18 leaving and 4 joining
Increasing diversity and choice: Specialist schools art to science/ and child centred learning
Improving equality of opportunity: Education action zones extra money for schools in deprived areas( £30 per week for students in low incomes to stay in education ages 16-18)
- Sure start- 12 hours a week free nursery provision for children aged 2-4
Policies to increase diversity name 3
- Specialist schools
- Child centred learning- Teachers are expected to focus more on each child’s individual learning needs
- Faith schools - expanded under New Labour
Criticisms of New Labour Policies
- New labour have not improved equality of educational opportunity
- Many students have a negative experience of the education system
Gliborn and Youdell argue that more students have a negative experience of education in the ‘A-C economy’
Schools have become too test focused
What was the vocational Education under The New right: 1983-1997?
- Mid 1970’s was a time of rising unemployment in Britain. Argued that education system wasn’t producing skilled enough workforce
- Youth training schemes- One year training scheme combining work experience with education of school leavers
- the Introduction of NVQ’s And GNVQs- Former focusses on career-specific training and some academic work, allowing individual to keep their options open.
Strengths of New Vocationalism
- Has provided a higher skilled workforce suited to changing labour market in globalised economy
- Putting more youths in work reduced youth unemployment
- Provided greater opportunities for less academically minded students to gain qualifications
