Education - Policy Flashcards
Outline the state of education before 1833.
No state schools or public expenditure on education, only available to a minority of the rich who could afford fee-paying schools and a minority of the poor who were taught by churches and charity.
How did industrialisation affect education?
There was a push for more compulsory education: an industrialised market requires an educated and intelligent workforce to create advancement and run it and they need to live longer which requires doctors and physicians to have a greater understanding of the human body.
What act made education compulsory, and for who?
The 1880 Education Act made school compulsory for children aged 5-10
In the beginning of compulsory education, how was education allegedly different?
Schooling was largely based on class, the middle-class was taught academic skills for professional work whereas the working class was taught the skills necessary for obedient factory work like basic numeracy and literary skills.
How did ideas about education change in the mid 1900s?
People began to believe that schools (and wider society) should be meritocratic, rather than being based on someone’s class.
What did the 1944 ‘Butler’ Education Act bring in?
The tripartite education system, where students would be sorted into different types of schools based on how they did in their 11+ exams: grammar schools, secondary modern schools, or technical schools.
Outline the three types of schools in the tripartite system.
- Grammar schools: offered an academic curriculum to (mainly middle-class) pupils that passed their 11+ so they could access non-manual jobs and higher education
- Secondary modern schools: offered a practical curriculum to (mainly working-class) pupils that failed their 11+ so they could access manual work
- Secondary technical schools (very rare): offered a more scientific curriculum for (mainly middle-class) students who were adept at mechanical and scientific subjects so they could become scientists
Why was the 11+ unmeritocratic?
It reproduced inequality, middle-class pupils had the resources to practice and know what to do (cultural capital); they also got different qualifications from different schools that were viewed as ‘equal but different’ loud incorrect buzzer sounds. Additionally, girls would be forced to get higher scores to get into the smae grammar schools as boys.
What is the basic history of the 11+ tests
- Originally created by Cyril Burt in the 20’s and 30’s to test children’s ‘general intelligence’ as a form of career advice
- Baby boom in the 50’s and 60’s forces it to be used to sort children into different schools
How did the tripartite system legitimate inequality?
Burt’s ideology was that ‘general intelligence’ is based on inheritance so generational inequality or poverty is simply a natural phenomenon. Additionally, Eyesenck, one of Burt’s students, spent the 60’s and 70’s linking Burt’s ideas to racial superiority, calling it “scientific proof”.
What did Labour PM Harold Wilson introduce and what was the issue?
The comprhensive school system aimed to ameliorate the inequalities of the tripartite by having all students in a catchment go to the comprehensive; however, students were given a choice to ‘go comprehensive’ and many did not.
How do functionalists see the role of comprehensives? Give a criticism.
They promote social intergration by bringing children of different social classes together; they are also more meritocratic as they give a longer period of time than 11 years.
- Ford (1969): little evidence of inter-class mixing
How do Marxists see the role of comprehensives? Give a criticism.
They continue to reproduce inequality through streaming and labelling; they also legitimise inequality through the myth of meritocracy.
- It is better than the tripartite.
Define ‘marketisation’
The process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition into public fields.
What act introduced marketisation?
The Education Reform Act (1988) - Maggie Thatch
Give a policy to promote marketisation and how.
Publication of league tables and Ofsted inspections creates a ranking system to compare schools
David (1993) and ‘parentocracy’:
As schools become more accountable to parents, the power shifts from the producer (schools) to the consumer (parents) which gives parents more choice and raises standards.
Ball (1994) and Whitty (1998) and a rebuttal to ‘parentocracy’:
Marketisation policies reproduce inequalities by creating inequality between schools
Bartlett (1993) and cream-skimming/silt-shifting:
Schools high up in the league table (often middle-class) are in high demand so have lots of pupils who apply.
- As there are so many applicants, the school can only take the most high-achieving and boost their rank
- They can also avoid less able pupils who will damage their position
The opposite is true of (often working-class) lower schools, thus solidifying the cycle and reproducing inequality.
Outline the funding formula and how it reproduces inequality.
Schools get more funding if they attract more pupils, this means they can afford better equipment and teachers, this makes them more attractive so they get more funding.
Public Policy Research (2012) and competition:
Competition-oriented education systems produce more social segregation.
