Educational Policies Flashcards
What does educational policy refer to?
The plans, strategies, instructions, and recommendations introduced by government
Most educational policies are a response of what 4 issues?
- equal opportunities
- selection and choice
- control of education
- marketisation and privatisation
What policies were introduced in the pre 1870s education in Britain
- prior to the industrial revolution, no state schools
- education was available for the rich at fee paying schools
- some churches and charities provided education for the poor
- the state spent no money on education
Explain the Forster education act (1870)
- industrialisation increases the need for an educated workforce
- state introduces elementary education for 5-10 year olds (1870)
- attendance made compulsory until age 10 (1870)
- curriculum offered in the “four r’s” (reading, writing, arithmetic and religion)
Explain the butler education act in 1940
- introduced free education for all between 5-15 years old
- aim to provide equality of educational opportunity for all children
- introduced the TRIPARTITE SYSTEM where all students must sit a test at age 11 (11+ exam) pupils allocated to 1 of 3 schools
- GRAMMAR SCHOOL- for those who passed the 11+, academic curriculum, mainly m/c
- SECONDARY MODERN- for those who failed the 11+ exam, non academic ‘practical education’ mainly w/c
- TECHNICAL COLLEGES- existed in very few areas, thus the system was more ‘bipartite’ than ‘tripartite’
What was the purpose of the butler education act in 1940?
The system aimed to create/promote meritocracy, but in reality the 11+ has an inbuilt middle class bias, plus girls had to gain a higher grade to pass (reproducing class and gender inequality)
What was the aim of the comprehensive system (1965)?
Aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic
How did the comprehensive system work?
- 11+ exam was abolished, along with grammar and secondary modern schools
- replaced with comprehensive schools, for all students in an area
- LEA’s were created in every borough
- the decision to ‘go comprehensive’ was handed to the LEAs but not all did - thus, the grammar-secondary modern divide still exists in many areas
What was the functionalist view on the role of comprehensives? And how was this criticised?
Functionalists would argue that mixing children of different social classes would increase social solidarity
However, Ford (1969) found that there was little mixing due to streaming students according to ability
What other view does functionalists have on education?
How is this criticised by marxists?
Functionalists would also argue that comprehensives are more meritocratic (as it gives pupils more time to show their ability rather than just selecting at age 11)
However, marxists would argue that the comprehensive system does not challenge streaming and labelling- thus it denies working class students equal opportunities and reaffirms the ‘myth of meritocracy’
What policy was introduced by Margaret Thatcher?
The education reform act (1988)
- Margaret Thatcher and the conservative government sought to introduce a market into the education system
- the process continued with the labour government (1997-2010), the coalition government (2010-2015) and now the conservative government (2010+)
What was the aim of the education reform act?
Wanted more consumer choice and competition between schools
-aim to reduce direct state control over education
What was the key policy in the education reform act and what does this include?
PARENTOCRACY
- publication of league tables and ofsted reports
- business sponsorships of schools
- open enrolment, allowing successful schools to recruit more pupils
- creation of specialist schools
- formula funding (schools receive the same amount of funding for each pupil)
- schools competing to attract pupils
What does the NR/NL favour? (Education reform act)
Marketisation
-arguing that successful schools will thrive whilst failing schools will go out of business
What does Ball(1994) and Whitty(1998) argue? (ERA)
Marketisation reinforces existing inequalities
-funding formula means that the same students become more attractive to schools than others as they are likely to achieve higher grades
What is cream skimming?
‘Good’ schools can be more selective, choose their own customers and recruit high achieving, mainly middle class pupils. As a result, these pupils gain an advantage
What does silt shifting mean?
‘Good’ schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools league table position
What is the funding formula?
Schools are allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they attract
What does the funding formula result in?
- popular schools get more funds, can recruit better teachers and build better facilities
- their popularity allows them to be more selective, attracting more able and ambitious middle class applicants
- unpopular schools lose income, lose their best teachers, facilities fall into disrepair, they fail to attract pupils, thus funding is further reduced
What policy was introduced in 1997-2010?
New labour
What happened in 1997? What was argued?
Many now argued that parentocracy was a myth as only middle class parents were able to take advantage of the system
What did Stephan ball argue? (New labour)
Parentocracy simply disguised class inequality
“The new labour government of ….. sought to introduce policies to reduce inequality”
Who sought to do this??
What were the policies?
Blair and Brown
- deprived areas designed ‘education action zones’ and provided extra funding
- ‘aim higher’ programmes to encourage under presented groups into high education
- EMA- money for poorer students to attend further education
- reduction to class sizes
- introduced ‘city academies’
- increased funding for education
How did Melissa Benn (2012) criticise the new labour?
Argued there was a contradiction between continued commitment to marketisation and tackling inequality
-introduced EMAs to help students stay in education BUT the implemented university fees may deter many w/c students
What did new labour also fail to do? (Criticism)
Failed to abolish fee-paying private schools to remove their charitable status
The coalition government (2010-2015) include what policies?
The education policies of the conservative liberal democrat coalition government (and in particular the policies of Michael Gove)
What did the coalition government produce?
Production of the “coalition agreement” setting out their vision for education
What did the coalition government want to promote?
Wanted to promote ‘excellence’ whilst freeing schools from the ‘dead hand of the state’
What were schools encouraged to do in 2010? (Coalition government)
From 2010 all schools were encouraged to leave LEA control, to convert to academies, receive funds directly from the department of education
What did the coalition government introduce?
Introduced free schools (funded by state; run by parents, charities, businesses, and faith groups rather than the LEAs)
What was the aim of the coalition government?
Aim is to take control away from the state and give it to parents, especially when they are unhappy with the provision in their area
How did Rebecca Allen in 2010 criticise the coalition government?
She looked at how free schools operate in Sweden and the USA found that educational standards fell and international rankings were lost
-any success was the product of using socially divisive pupil selection and exclusion policies
The coalition government was believed to increase inequality they also introduced policies aimed to reduce it… what were these? (Criticism)
- free school meals (FSM) for all children in reception, year 1 and year 2
- the pupil premium (extra money for schools with students from disadvantaged backgrounds)
What is the biggest criticism for the coalition government?
The coalition government may of introduced policies to reduce inequality, but the coalition “auserity” programmes meant they ended EMA, tripled university fees to £9000, closed sure start centres and cut the building schools for the future programme by 60%
