Education Topic 5 - social policy Flashcards
Educational policy before 1880
No state schools, education was only available to a minority of the population.
Industrialisation increased the need for an educated workforce, schooling was made compulsory for children aged 5-13
The Tripartite System - 1944
Grammar schools: prestigious, for those who passed 11+ exam, academic curriculum that allowed access to non-manual jobs and higher education
Secondary modern: factory work, those who failed 11+ exam, a non-academic, practical curriculum, allowing access to manual work, mainly w/c
Technical schools: low paid skilled workers, very few built, more of a bipartite system
- System reproduced class inequality and reproduced gender inequality as girls had to score higher on the 11+
Comprehensive system - 1965
Aimed to overcome class divide by abolishing 11+ along with grammar schools, replacing them with comprehensive schools that all pupils in one area attend. It was up to local authorities, so the grammar-secondary modern divide still exists in many areas.
- Functionalist views: comprehensive promotes social integration between classes
- Marxists views: comprehensives reproduce class inequality through streaming and labelling
Selective schooling
Selection by ability: academic ability, based on intelligence test at age 11, now forbidden at all state funded schools.
Selection by aptitude: potential in certain subjects, specialist schools can take 10% of pupils based on aptitude in certain subjects
Selection by faith: select proportion of students based on religion/religion of parents
AO3 - issues with selection by ability
Late developers not able to move schools, social cohesion and social integration, labelling and SFPs and gains provided for some students cancelled out by number of students disadvantaged in secondary moderns
Covert selection (two theorists)
Tough and Brooks (2007) - use of backdoor social selection, cherry-picking those they think will be high achievers e.g discouraging parents from poorer economic backgrounds from applying by giving the impression that school is better suited to m/c pupils
New Vocationalism, 1979-1997 Conservatives
Aimed to deal with youth unemployment as the government felt education wasn’t adequate preparation for work. Introduced apprenticeships and training schemes focusing on students gaining NVQs. Favoured by Functionalists and New Right
AO3 - problems with New Vocationalism
Cheap labour for employers, a way of reducing politically embarrassing unemployment stats, lower ability students were encouraged into vocational education, w/c and ethnic minorities over-represented and stereotypical gender patterns
Marketisation
Refers to the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state, such as education.
Education Reform Act - 1998, Conservative
Marketisation promoted since Margaret Thatcher in government:
- publication of league tables and Ofsted reports, allowing parents to choose the right school
- business sponsorship of schools
- open enrolment, allowing schools to recruit pupils
- funding formula, schools receiving funding for pupils
- schools opting out of local authorities
- national curriculum, ensures all students have high quality education
Parentocracy (one theorist)
David (1993) - describes marketised education as ‘parentocracy’, meaning ‘ruled by parents’. Supporters of marketisation argue in an education market the power shifts from producers to consumers. They claim this encourages diversity, gives parents more choice and raises standards.
AO3 - reproduction of inequality (one theorist)
League tables and cream-skimming: publishing exam results ensures schools with good results are in high demand by parents.
Bartlett (1993) claims this encourages:
- Cream skimming: ‘good’ schools can be more selective and choose high achieving mainly m/c pupils
- Silt shifting: ‘good’ schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get low results
(doesn’t apply to schools in low league table positions as they can’t afford to be selective)
Parental choice and inequalities (one theorist)
Marketisation policies benefit m/c parents as their economic and cultural capital puts them in a better position to choose a ‘good school’.
Gewirtz (1995) found differences in parent’s economic capital and cultural capital lead to differences in choice of secondary schools:
- Privileged-skilled choosers: professional, m/c parents, visit schools, research options, able to move children around the system to gain best deals
- Disconnected-local choosers: w/c parents, restricted by lack of capital, admissions hard to understand, less confident, less aware of choices, nearest schools are most realistic options
- Semi-skilled choosers: mainly w/c, ambitious for children, lack capital and rely heavily on others opinions
New Labour, 1997-2010
Introduced policies to reduce inequalities:
- Education Action Zones which provide additional resources and funding
- Aim Higher programmes to raise aspirations
- Education Maintenance Allowances, payments to students from low income families
- National Literacy Strategy and reducing class sizes
- Increased funding for state education
- Sure Start centres in deprived areas to tackle cultural deprivation
AO3 - Critics of New Labour (one theorist)
Benn (2012) - contradiction between Labours policies to reduce inequalities and it’s commitment to marketization. E.g introducing EMAs encouraging w/c pupils to stay in education, but also introducing tuition fees for higher education. New Labour paradox.
Coalition Government, 2010-2015
One change made was reforming the curriculum with the NC being rewritten and made more demanding. Aims to reduce the role of the state in education and moving away from schools run by local authority.
- Academies: from 2010, schools were encouraged to leave local authority control and become academies. Given control over their own curriculum
- Free schools: set up and run by parents, teachers and faith organisations or businesses, rather than local authority. Seen to raise standards by giving power to the parents.
AO3 - fragmented centralisation (one theorist)
Ball (2011) - argues promoting academies and free schools has led to:
- Fragmentation of education: system is being replaced by a patchwork of diverse provision, much of it involving private providers, that leads to greater inequality in opportunities
- Centralisation of control: central gov. alone has the power to allow or require schools to become academies, which reduces the role of elected authorities in education
Coalition government reducing inequality
Free school meals for all pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2
Pupil Premium: money schools receive for each pupil from a disadvantaged background, encouraged better schools to aim to recruit less advantaged students
Conservative government, 2015+
Policies introduced:
- Funding cuts for schools
- Continuing the rapid academisation of Local Educational Authority schools
- Increasing number of grammar schools
- Pushing students to study The EBacc pathway
- Introducing T Level qualifications
- Grading system at GCSE shifted to 1-9 system
- Progress 8 introduced to measure school’s performance
- Content of A-Level and GCSE’s made more academically demanding
Privatisation
Involves the transfer of public assets, such as schools, to private companies. In recent years there has been a trend towards privatisation, in the UK and globally.
Endogenous Privatisation (two theorists)
Ball and Youdell - involves privatisation from within the education system. It’s possible due to the opting out of the LEA control and being able to manage themselves. Can involve: sponsored activities from local businesses, teachers being paid based on performance and schools spending more time based on marketing than students
Exogenous privatisation (two theorists)
Ball and Youdell - refers to privatisation from the outside. Aspects of the education system are outsourced to external providers and companies. Involves: global private exam boards, classroom tools and academies and academic trusts
Cola-isation of schools (one theorist)
Private sector is also penetrating schools indirectly e.g vending machines in schools, and the development of brand loyalty.
Molnar (2005) - schools are targeted by private companies because schools legitimise the product.
Globalisation
The way in which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of increased technology, travel, transportation, trade and communication
