Educational Policies and their Significance

Question 1

How did the 1944 Education Act aim to make schools more meritocratic?

Answer 1

Grammar schools, free for all, paid for by the State

Question 2

Criticisms of 1944 Education Act and the Tripartite system

Answer 2

• Only 20% of the country could go to grammars
• Secondary moderns did not establish parity of esteem
• More places were not made for girls even though they tended to do better on 11+ exams
• Very few Technical Colleges built due to cost

Question 3

What influenced the Comprehensivisation of schools?

Answer 3

• Floud and Halsey (1965): 11+ unfair on WC children
• Best way to boost social mobility was to give all students access to the same educational opportunity

Question 4

New Right criticism of Comprehensives

Answer 4

• Progress stagnated
• Schools would just find ways to reproduce grammar system internally
• Less need for schools to be dynamic
• More time spent dealing with behavioural issues

Question 5

How were schools ‘marketised’ by the 1988 Education Act?

Answer 5

• League tables created
• Parents gained choice of which Comp. to send kids to
• A National Curriculum standardised what was expected for children to know

Question 6

Criticisms of the marketisation of schools

Answer 6

• Selection through house prices/affordability of homes relative to income
• Pressures on school/competition led to schools trying to show improvement over the quality of provision
• Creation of A-C economy left some students behind

Question 7

How has the marketisation of schools improved them?

Answer 7

• More dynamism in producing ‘results’ for the children
• Pass rates in English and Maths increased
• More accountability and more focus on progress has led to better measures for judging school improvement since 2010
• Failing schools have been given a fresh start by dynamis school leaders and extra money

Question 8

1976 Ruskin Speech

Answer 8

Questioned the suitability of the education system for providing children with the skills to succeed

Question 9

How has ‘parity of esteem’ attempted to have been established in the education system since 1976?

Answer 9

Vocational courses, beginning with the YTS and later NVQs. From 2021 - T Levels

Question 10

Popular trends in schools today

Answer 10

• Assessing progress over achievement
• Providing a knowledge rich curriculum that specifies the cultural literacy for a child to succeed
• Greater school accountability on the range and breadth of a school’s curriculum as opposed to the headline results they provide each year