Education Policies: Marketisation and Privatisation Flashcards
Marketisation: Define
The idea that market forces of supply and demand based on competition and consumer choice should be introduced to education
Marketisation: The New Right
Argue that schools should be run like businesses and parents should have a choice in the school they send their children to
Marketisation: 1988 Education Reform Act
-Parental Choice
-League Tables
-Formula Funding
Parental Choice: Define
Parents become consumers “shopping around” for the best school for their children
Parental Choice: How do parents choose?
Looking at OFSTED reports and prospectuses, attending open days
Parental Choice: How do schools become successful
Provide consumers with what they want (excellent exam results), schools that don’t will go out of business
Parental Choice: Parentocracy
All parents have a say in the school their children attend
Parental Choice: Parentocracy (The New Right)
Argue that if parents don’t get their children into the best schools it is their own fault - they should take an interest and research
Parental Choice AO3: Marxism
-Parentocracy is a myth and only MC parents are able to take advantage of greater choice because they have capital:
-Economic capital: pay for transport for a better school further away
-Educational capital: confident talking to teachers at open days
League Tables: Define
Exam results of all schools are published in league tables
League Tables: How do they encourage parentocracy?
Helping parents make an informed choice by comparing the success rates of different schools
League Tables: How do they encourage competition?
Want the best exam results and highest positions in the league tables so new students will want to come
League Tables: The New Right
Make it easy to identify the best schools and shame the worst into improving their standards or face closure
League Tables AO3: Cream-skimming
-The most successful schools cream skim their students to reach the top of the league tables
-Selecting MC girls who will achieve excellent exam results
League Tables AO3: Educational Triage (Gillborn and Youdell)
-Teachers allocate more resources and time to students on the C/D borderline to turn as many D’s to C’s
-Students in the “hopeless cases” category are given no extra support as they are unlikely to achieve a higher grade
-They are put in the bottom sets with behaviour issues
-Disadvantages less able students and reproduces social class inequalities because most are WC
Formula Funding: Define
The money schools receive for each student enrolled, they more students they have, the more money they will receive
Formula Funding: Schools that attract lots of students
They will be be able to expand and improve further e.g afford new facilities and better teachers
Formula Funding: Schools that don’t attract new students
Risk being closed down
Formula Funding: The New Right
-Raises standards in all schools by forcing failing ones to improve otherwise they will be closed down
Formula Funding: How does this reflect the economy
Some schools have more funding just like some businesses do better than others, schools acting and competing like businesses raises standards
Formula Funding AO3: Competition
-Makes it harder for poorer schools to improve as students go to the more popular schools with better teachers
-Less successful schools lack resources to improve
-Results in polarisation of schools where high performing schools become more and more popular while underperforming one’s funding is further reduced
The Coalition Government 2010-2015
-Free Schools
-Acadamies
Free Schools: Define
A new type of state school that is free from the control of local authority
Free Schools: How do they improve educational standards
Taking control away from the state and giving poster to parents
