educational policies Flashcards
What is educational policy?
Government strategies for education which are introduced through legal changes and instruction to schools
what was the tripartite system?
-introduced 1944
- two types of secondary school (grammar schools and secondary moderns) with entrance based on 11+ exams
- most MC pupils passed 11+ and went to grammar schools with academic curriculum
- most WC pupils failed 11+ and went to secondary moderns with practical sills curriculum
What was the comprehensive system?
- introduced 1965
- abolished 11+ as all students attended same local comprehensive schools (not all area went comprehensive and grammar schools still exist)
How do Functionalists see comprehensive schools?
- meritocratic as pupils have longer to develop by not being selected at 11
- see some comprehensives promoting integration by all social classes brought together in one school
How do Marxists see comprehensive schools?
- reproducing inequality through streaming and labelling
- the ‘myth of meritocracy’ makes it seem like everybody has equal opportunity
What is marketisation?
introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition intro areas run by the state
Where did marketisation policies stem from?
1988 Education Reform Act
What do marketisation policies include?
- league tables
- open enrolment
- formula funding
- free schools
- academies
- business sponsorship
- opting out of LEA control
What is a parentocracy?
parents are given greater choice and can help to raise standards
how do league tables reproduce inequality?
schools with good results can ‘cream-skim’ the best (mainly MC) pupils, and less successful schools end up with less able students ‘slit-shifting’
how does the funding formula reproduce inequality?
schools are funded on how many pupils they recruit, so the good schools get more money, can improve facilities and staffing, therefore attracting more students.
how does increased parental choice reproduce inequality?
Gewirtz identifies MC privileged-skilled choosers with the economic and cultural capital to take advantage of the system. WC disconnected-local choosers who lack capital and have to settle for the nearest school, and ambitious WC semi-skilled choosers were frustrated by their inability to get the school they wanted
how does the myth of parentocracy reproduce inequality?
marketisation legitimises inequality, making it look like all parents are equally free to choose a good school
What New Labour policies were introduced 1997-2010
- maintained marketisation policies
- introduced policies to reduce inequality e.g. city academies, Education Action Zones, Aim Higher programmes in disadvantaged areas, Education Maintenance Allowances for 16-18-year-olds, increased spending on state education
Evaluation of New Labour policies
- policies contradictory as EMAs help students stay in education until 18, but they would then have to pay uni tuition fees
- left the private education system untouched
- inequality clearly reinforces, making sure that WC pupils stay disadvantaged
- more education spending and a focus on a ‘learning society’ had genuine achievements
evidence of academies raising standards is mixed
how have conservative policies since 2010 been influenced?
moved away from a comprehensive system run by local authorities. Influenced by neoliberal ideas (reducing the role of the state through marketisation and privatisation)
What is the privatisation of state education?
state ceases to be the provider of education, and instead commissions private companies to provide services.
academies
- all schools encouraged to become academies funded by central government
- some are part of privately owned chains
- removing academies from local authority control means loss of democratic accountability
free schools
- state funded but set up and run by parents/ teachers/ religious groups/ businesses
fragmented centralisation
Ball argues there is a fragmented patchwork instead of comprehensive system, leading to greater inequality.
Education now more centralised as government can require schools to become academies and allow free schools to be set up
spending cuts
since 2010 there has been major government spending cuts e.g. Sure Start, school building, EMA, increased uni fees. Extreme cuts have lead to cancelled pupil premium that schools receive to support disadvantaged pupils
how is education viewed as a privatised commodity?
Ball argues education is ceasing to be a public good, but instead turned into a commodity, owned by private companies and brought and sold in an education market. Education as a source of profit for capitalists including:
- school building
- Ofsted inspections
- providing supply teachers
- running local education authorities
Hall sees this as the ‘long march of the neoliberal revolution’
how has education blurred the public and private boundary?
many senior public sector employees such as senior civil servants and head teachers, move into the private sector education businesses, bringing ‘insider knowledge’ to help win contracts
how has education changed with the globalisation of policy?
many education companies are foreign-owned, and some UK edu-businesses work abroad to export UK education policy in sales. Nation -states are becoming less important in policy-making, as it is becoming globalised
what is the cola-isation of schools?
the private sector sells to pupils through vending machines in schools, developing brand-loyalty through logos, sponsorships etc. Benefits to the school are limited
ethnicity policies through the 1960s-70s
based on encouraging assimilation through English as a Second Language programmes
ethnicity policies through the 1980s- 90s
aimed to value all cultures through multi-cultural education policies such as black studies in the mainstream curriculum
recent ethnicity policies
focussed on social inclusion e.g. legal duty of schools to promote racial equality.
Mirza criticises more recent policies as being too limited in scope.
