Education: Policy Flashcards
Education policy
Refers to the plans and strategies for education introduced by the government. Policies instruct schools and LEAs.
19th Century Education policy
Industrialisation increased the need for and education workforce and from the late 19th century the state began to become involved in education.
Previously, education was only available to minority of the population.
It was provided by fee-paying schools for the wealthy or by churches and charities for a minority of the poor.
1870 Foster Education Act
The state began to assume some responsibility and provided free education.
1880
Education becomes compulsory (from the ages 5-13).
Education post 1880
In this period education children gained reflected their social class position and it did little to change pupils’ ascribed status.
Middle class pupils followed an academic curriculum and working-class pupils were equipped with basic numeracy and literacy skills needed for routine work and values to encourage deference to authority.
Education during WW2
The limited education of the majority of the population was highlighted in WW2 when many army recruits were found to be illiterate.
This wastage of talent and resources made many fear that Britain’s industrial performance would be threatened by such a poorly educated workforce.
1944 Butler Education Act
Introduced to radically change the nature and structure of the education system.
Enshrined the belief of meritocracy.
Based on the notion that every child should be given and equal change to develop their talents to the full within a free system of state education.
From 1944
Education began to be shaped by the idea of meritocracy.
Idea of meritocracy
The idea that individuals should achieve their status in life through their own efforts and abilities, rather than it being ascribed by their class background.
Tripartite system
Introduced by the 1944 Butler Education Act. ‘Tri’ because children were to be selected and allocated to one of three different types of secondary school, supposedly reflecting and according to their aptitudes and abilities.
System was designed to provide separate but equal schooling and the three school types were to have parity of esteem.
Parity of esteem
Equal status
11 + Exam
Exam taken by every child at age 11 used to select and allocate pupils to their appropriate school and identify different abilities and aptitudes of students. Educationalists at the time believed this national test was an accurate indicator of the suitability of a particular pupil for a specific school.
13 + Exam
A later test offered to pupils if it became clear that they had been allocated to the ‘wrong’ school (In reality very few were re-tested and transferred).
Secondary Grammar Schools:
For pupils who ‘passed’ the 11 + exam - these pupils were mainly middle class. It offered an academic curriculum and access to non-manual jobs and higher education. Less than 20% of the population attended these schools.
Secondary Modern Schools:
Offered a non-academic, ‘practical’ curriculum and access to manual work for pupils who ‘failed’ the 11 + exam. These pupils were mainly working class.
Technical schools:
Existed in very few areas with only 5% of the population attending. Therefore in reality the system was more bipartite than tripartite.
Evaluation of Tripartite system:
Judged to be ‘socially divisive’ by reproducing class inequality through channeling the two classes into two very different types of school offering unequal opportunities. Obstacle to equality of opportunity.
The schools did not have ‘parity of esteem’.
Reproduced gender inequality by requiring girls to get higher in the exam.
Led to regional inequalities - there were disparities in number of grammar places available in different areas.
Legitimated inequality from the ideology that ability is inborn and that it can be measured in a single test.
The Comprehensive System
Introduced by the labour government in 1965.
Aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education, thus society, more meritocratic and egalitarian. The 11 + was abolished and all pupils within the same catchment area would attend the same mixed ability comprehensive.
1965 Labour Government
Instructed LEAs to convert to a comprehensive system of secondary schooling as a result of mounting criticisms.
Why does the grammar-secondary modern divide still exist in many areas?
Because after 1965 it was left to the LEA to decide whether to ‘go comprehensive’ and not all did (particularly conservative run LEAs) As a result, the divide still exists in many areas across the UK.
What was the Philosophy behind the Comprehensive system of Education?
Emphasised integration and inclusion rather than segregation and separation.
Marxist evaluation of the comprehensive system:
Argue that comprehensives are not meritocratic . Rather, they reproduce class inequality from one generation to the next through streaming and labelling - in this way they claim the tripartite system still exists but ‘under one roof’. Claim it contributes towards the ‘myth of meritocracy’ by making failure look like it is the fault of the individual not the system.
Ford (1969)
Found little evidence of social integration as a result of setting and streaming and the location of comprehensive schools drawing pupils from a particular catchment area.
Marketisation
The process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state such as education.
1988 Education Reform Act
Introduced by the Conservative government of Thatcher.
1988 Education Reform Act
Introduced by the Conservative government of Thatcher. Encouraged marketisation as a central theme.
How did the 1988 ERA encourage an ‘education market’?
Marketisation created an ‘education market’ by reducing direct state control over education and increasing competition between schools and parentocracy. In effect schools became more business-like.
Thatcher’s ‘supermarket mentality’
Thatcher argued a ‘supermarket mentality’ approach to the education system. Comparing competition between schools to competition between independent supermarkets.
1988 ERA Policies:
National Curriculum
The government laid down a standardised national curriculum to ensure that schools and pupils concentrate on what they saw as the core and foundational subjects.
1988 ERA Policies:
Testing and Attainment Targets
Attainment targets were established and SATs introduced to ensure targets were being met and maintained.
1988 ERA Policies:
Publication of league tables and Ofsted inspection reports
Rank each school according to its exam performance e.g. SATs, GCSEs and A-Levels.
1988 ERA Policies:
Parental Choice
Parents were given the right to send their children to the school of their choice. Reducing the role of the LEA. To facilitate this, schools produced prospectuses including comparisons of their SATs and exam results with the national average.
1988 ERA Policies:
Open enrolment
A policy of open enrolment forced all schools to recruit pupils up to their maximum capacity.
1988 ERA Policies:
Formula Funding
A new system of funding was introduced based on enrollments.
1988 ERA Policies:
Grant Maintained Schools
Schools were encouraged to opt out of LEA control and become self-governing, funded directly from government. These schools had the right to select pupils through entry exams (Forerunners to academies).
1988 ERA Policies:
Local Management of Schools
Act increased the powers and independence of schools. Responsibility of 85% of the budget was removed from LEAs and given to headteachers and governors.
Conservative Policies:
The replacement of GCEs (O-levels) AND CSEs with the GCSE qualification in 1988
Got rid of a two tiered system to ensure all pupils left with the same qualifications.
Conservative Policies:
1993 Polytechnics were allowed to become universities
Polytechnics - places of higher education but with a shorter heritage than universities e.g. Northumbria.
Evaluation of ERA Policies:
National Curriculum
The NC has been accused of being ethnocentric. For example:
African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian History is neglected, and the emphasis is based on the benefits of British colonialism. In literature emphasis is placed on traditional, classical English writers such as Hardy, Shakespeare, and Dickens. European languages dominate the language component of the NC. Religious specifications reflect Christian religious traditions the most.
Lawton (1989)
Argued that the National Curriculum undermined local democratic control of education and the independence of the teaching profession by centralising power in the hands of the government. Argued the content of the NC was traditional and unimaginative in its exclusion of certain subjects. Claimed that the NC wrongly neglected important areas of learning such as political understanding, economic awareness, and many other cross cultural themes.
Johnson (1991)
Criticised the NC on the grounds that it defined certain types of knowledge as worthy of study while excluding others. He argued that the use of a single curriculum for all pupils based on a common culture did not encourage equality of opportunity.
