Educational Policies Flashcards by Flo Stovold

3 aims of educational policy

1 economic efficiency
2 raising educational standards
3 creating equality of opportunity

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Dimensions of equality of opportunity ( Gilborn and Youdell 2000 )

equality of access
equality of circumstances
equality of participation
equality of outcome

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Tripartite system (1944 education act)

Made secondary school free to abolish social class inequalities

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11- plus exam

Essentially a type of intelligence test aimed to provide three different schools with 3 different aptitudes

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Parity of esteem

(Equality of opportunity) all schools are supposed to have similar standards of provision

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Comperehensivation (comprehensive schools)

Based on the principle that there should be only one type of school and it should educate all children under one roof

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Criticisms of comprehensive schools

hasn’t eliminated the impact of social class

- some argue they have sacrificed on the altar of equality

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Oil crisis (1973 defined how dependant the uk was on global trading and international competition sparked fear on industrial decline (key impacts)

Globalisation has helped to spread the influence of the new right neoliberal ideal
Increased the importance of international trade and multinational companies
Greater comparison of educational standards between countries (PISA examinations ex.)

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Globalisation

The way in which increased cultural and economic interchange between countries has made the world increasingly interconnected

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Covert selection 
(Also in free schools)

Tough and Brooks (2007)

Green, Allen and Jenkins

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Policies implemented due to international comparisons:

The National literacy and numeracy strategies (1998/9-2010) two hours of literacy and numeracy at primary school daily
Slimming down the national curriculum to essential knowledge
Raising the academic entry requirements for trainee teachers since 2012

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Strengths of international comparisons:

Useful to see whether educational spending matches the achievement
Useful for comparing standards internationally
provides evidence to help policy makers see what works and what doesn’t

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Limitations of international comparisons

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS tests are based on a very narrow conception of education
There are concerns to the reliability and validity of the tests, they may not necessarily mean that the education received is better or worse
They can have damaging and wasteful effects on policy

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Neoliberism

Philosophy (closely related to the new right) that argues that the state should play a minimum role in public services including education, health and well care

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Black papers

Coz and Dyson (1971) produced a series of criticisms over comprehensive schooling, they ‘black papers’ lead to privatisation and marketisation

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Privatisation

Is when services once owned by the state are transferred to private companies

Treasury Estimate (2015)

Estimated that uk government and authorities paid around £88 billion yearly on education

Two types of privatisation

Ball and Youdell (2007)

privatisation in education (endogenous)
privatisation of education (exogenous)

Endogenous privatisation:

Happens within Education, when school/colleges/universities begin to act like business’. It involves:

The local management of the school
Competition between schools
Efficiency
Performance related pay for teachers
Parental choice of school
Target setting
School performance tables
Inspections
Per capita funding

Exogenous privatisation

From outside the system, involves companies taking over:

School services
The management of schools
School inspections
Designing building financing and operating (DBFO)
Branding
Running the examinations systems

Plus point of privatisation:

+More business like and effective schools
+More choice for parents
+Profit motivation may encourage private companies to provide schools or support failing ones

Negative points of privatisation

Money may be drained from the education system
Subject to ‘cherry-picking’
May go out of business
No equality of educational opportunity

Main features of Marketisation

Independence
Competition
Choice

Deborah Youdell

Professor at Birmingham university for Sociology of Education, researches issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, social class, ability and disability.
‘Concerned with the relationship between policy, practice and inequalities’
‘Inequalities are connected to subjectivities, everyday practices, pedagogy, institutional processes and policy’
‘Educators and practice politically to intervene in inequalities’

Government policy (1997)

Margaret Thatcher was elected and neoliberism and globalisation began to have a real impact on educational policies

Radical changes to education (1979-97)

(Conservative government; Margaret Thatcher & John Major) 1-Make schooling more relevant to work; make Britain more competitive in the global market 2-Take control of the curriculum to raise efficiency 3-Introduce free market principles by increasing choice and diversity

Education Reform Act

1988 (ERA) shift of controlled education from local authorities to state state regulations

7 ways control was shifted to State Policy

- The National curriculum was introduced - SAT's at 7, 11 and 14. Results of exams were posted in league tables - LMS gave responsibility of the school to the headmaster/funding was largely based on student number - Head teachers had the authority when backed by parent vote to revoke local authority control and become GM schools - Open Enrolment (schools could intake pupils as they pleased with no interference from local authorities) - CTC's were set up in inner city areas - more intensive school inspections were introduced by Ofsted

Training cheers known as the new vocation

- the youth training scheme (YTS 1980) | - modern apprenticeships (1994)

Criticisms of the new policies:

- Marxists saw it as confining learning to a narrow curriculum to help regenerate a mindless generation - Ideologically driven by labour at the expense of children's needs - Too many SAT's and children being negatively labelled - Parental choice was limited as schools 'cherry-picked' their students - The Act of reinforcing class inequalities

Foundation schools

(Labour government 1997-2010) renamed GM schools and stopped paying them grants.

Specialist schools

(Labour government 1997-2010) were encouraged to compete, and told to raise £50,000 in sponsors which would matched by government funding in order to select 10% of their intake

Underperforming schools (1997-2010)

Were named and shamed

Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA)

Paid poorer pupils from age 16-19 £30 weekly plus bonuses for school trips for ex.

Tuition fee for university

Introduced by New Labour in 1998

'The fear of getting into financial debt may scare off the more deprived groups'

Callendar and Jackson (2004) | Moore et al. (2010)

Pupil premium

(The coalition government 2010-2015) pupils eligible for free school meals attracted additional funding, the poorest 2yr olds were given free nursery hours

Changes in the National curriculum

(Coalition government 2010-2015) coursework was removed from, introducing end of year tests instead, and the separation of AS and A level was put in place

The myth of parentocracy

Middle class parents still hold the culture capital to ensure their child attends the chosen school