Education- Tripartite and comprehensive system

Question 1

What educational policies were introduced before 1965?

Answer 1

Education Act 1870- made sure every child had access to education
Education Act 1918- compulsory education until 14
1944- Butler act, tripartite system, compulsory education until 15

Question 2

What was the tripartite system influenced by?

Answer 2

Meritocracy

Question 3

When did the tripartite system start and end?

Answer 3

1945-1965

Question 4

what types of schools could children attend?

Answer 4

-Grammer schools
-Secondary modern
-Technical schools

Question 5

What were grammar schools?

Answer 5

-For children who passed the 11+
-Mainly middle class
-Academic
-Non-manual jobs
-Higher education

Question 6

What were modern secondary schools

Answer 6

-Non-academic
-Practical curriculum
-Access to manual work jobs
-For children who failed the 11+
-Mainly working class

Question 7

What were technical schools?

Answer 7

-Only existed in certain areas
-Focused on ‘technical subjects’ such as engineering and mechanics
-Prepared students for work-related trades

Question 8

What was the 1944 tripartite system?

Answer 8

-A 3-tiered system based on the 11+ exam

Question 9

How could you evaluate the tripartite system?

Answer 9

-11+ reproduced class inequality
-Offered unequal opportunities
-Reproduced gender inequality- girls had to gain higher marks than boys
-Children’s environments greatly affect their chances of success and the 11+ did not account for this
-brighter children could be pushed along an academic route ready to sit O and A levels and possibly university in preparation for higher managerial positions in the workplace
-lower-ability students together as it was felt they could be taught in a more suitable environment in preparation for the workplace
-many teachers, parents and even students saw children who failed the 11+ as failures leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy with many children leaving school with no qualifications
-many children developed their abilities much later on but modern secondary schools were unable to meet their educational needs and so never fulfilled their potential

Question 10

When was the comprehensive system introduced?

Answer 10

1965

Question 11

What were comprehensive schools?

Answer 11

-Local mixed-ability and gender schools
-Based on the catchment area

Question 12

What were the aims of comprehensive schools?

Answer 12

-Aimed to overcome class divide
-Aimed to be more meritocratic

Question 13

How could functionalists evaluate comprehensive schools>

Answer 13

-Promoted social integration
-Brings social classes together
-Streaming was encouraged

Question 14

How could Marxists evaluate comprehensive schools?

Answer 14

-Not meritocratic
-Reproduces class inequalities because of streaming and labelling
-Deneys working-class students equal opportunities

Question 15

General evaluation of comprehensive system

Answer 15

-Late developers can flourish in comprehensive schools better than in secondary moderns (schools which those who failed the 11+ went to)
-Large comprehensives teach a wider range of subjects as well as providing a wider range of facilities than purely academic institutions like grammar schools
-More tailored education as well as allowing lower ability students to make better progress
-Create a common culture whereby one social group learns about the dynamics of another and so helps pull down social barriers and remove social-class barriers
-Large intakes
-No different to the tripartite system where working-class students are invariably found in the bottom sets and streams