Educational Policy Flashcards
What percent of children do state schools educate
93%
What are most state secondary schools
Comprehensives which mean that they take children of all social backgrounds and do not select on the basis of ability
What schools do select by ability
Grammar schools, making children sit tests to see whether on not they can get in
What schools did the conservative government set up, when and why
In the 1980s they set up City technology colleges. Based on a partnership between government and private businesses and aimed to offer an education based on the national curriculum with a strong emphasis on maths
Conservative reforms of education ________
1979-1997
What thinkers had a big influence on conservative educational policy since 1979
New right thinkers
What was education like up to 1979
There existed a political consensus with regard to education. Most secondary schools were comprehensive schools which practised equality of opportunity
What did the New Right argue about the education system in 1979
It was failing to produce young people with the skills required by the British industry. Comprehensive schools were criticised for being too academic.
What was the conservative governments solution to this
To introduce the Youth Training Scheme in which employers were paid to train school leavers for one year
What was another vocational initiative the conservative government created
The introduction of the National Vocational Qualifications which were designed to offer pupils a set of qualifications related to skills in specific types of work
What are critics of vocationalism
It has been argued that it is another aspect of educational inequality because the qualifications are rarely taken up by middle-class children and tend to be taken up by the working class.
What did Finn argue
That the real function of the Youth Training Scheme was to depress the wage levels of young workers and to keep young people off the streets
What did the 1988 Education Reform act do
It aimed to introduce competition, diversity and choice as well as raise educational standards.
- It extended parental choice
- It created diversity in secondary education provision
- It introduced the national curriculum
- It attempted to create free market competition between schools by introducing league tables and ofsted
What did the 1988 act introducing open enrolment mean
That parents were given the right to choose their childs school. School budgets became dependant on how many pupils they could attract.
What new school did the 1988 act introduce
Grant maintains schools (the og academies) - which were allowed to opt out of local governments control and given the freedom to manage their own budgets
What did the 1988 act introducing the national curriculum do
It dictated to teachers what they needed to teach to children at each key stage and then end the school year with testing - it included core subjects and foundation subjects
What does Taylor observe about the national curriculum
It was vocational in that it stressed the importance of those subjects seen as necessary to work. It marginalised arts and humanities subjects because they were seen as less relevant in the world of work
What did the 1988 act introducing league tables do
They published league tables every year from 1992 onwards which ranked schools in terms of exam results. The intention was to promote competition between schools which would raise standards
What did the 1988 act lead to introducing Ofsted do (in 1993)
In order to rigorously inspect schools and colleges. These resulted in inspection reports which could be used to help parents choose the best schools for their children
What was the most important effect of the 1988 act
To encourage schools to be more like businesses competing for customers.
How as the national curriculum criticised
By teachers as overly prescriptive in terms of what should be taught, and putting to much pressure on children in exams
What happens to popular schools
Fill up too quickly restricting parental choice.
What did Gewirtz study and find
Studied 14 London schools and found that parentocracy is a myth because parental power is not equally distributed across all parents. Middle-class parents have more power than working class parents because they have more capital.
New labour and education _________
1997-2010
What were new labours educational policies influenced by
The social democratic and new right approaches to reduce inequality by improving equality of opportunity, raise standards, and increase parental choice
What did New labour invest into
Sure start centres - a scheme that provided children and mothers from poor families with extra support aimed at improving their early years of education (the scheme was cut post 2010)
What did the New labour government set up
Education action zones to raise the motivation and attainment of pupils living in deprived inner-city areas. This was replaced by Excellence in cities which gave extra funds to local authorities in deprived areas to help the gifted students from poor backgrounds
What did the New labour introduce
Educational maintenance allowances to help students from poorer families to study A levels
What did the New labour do about higher eduction
Made it more accessible in an attempt to get more working class backgrounded students into universities. To fund these extra places it introduced tuition fees and student loans.
What does evidence suggest about labours policies
They only had a modest effect in helping those from poorer backgrounds to achieve in education
What was a negative view on the expanding access of higher education
Had a negative effect in the number of working-class students entering university. Most places were taken by middle-class students
What does Ball argue
That the middle-class parents and pupils benefited most from labours expansion of academies
Coalition education policies _______
2010-2015
What did coalition policies aim to do
Improve competition, diversity and choice, and to raise educational standards
What is the 2010 academies act
Allowed all existing faith and state comprehensive schools which had achieved ‘outstanding’ with ofsted to become academies.
What did the 2010 academies act do
Authorised the creation of free school. By 2014, 331 free schools had been opened
What did the 2010 academies act encourage
The further privatisation of the education system because it positively encouraged businesses to invest in and run academies.
What did the Liberal Democrats introduce
Pupil premium (2011) - schools with high numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals were given extra educational resources to be spent on extra support for disadvantaged children
What three problems did Paul Taylor identify with the coalition governments policies
- They seem more concerned with ideology rather than education
- The control of education has increasingly been taken away from democratically elected governments and given to businesses.
- The movement to more academies and free schools has mainly benefitted middle class students with parents who hold quite a bit of capital
Conservative government ______
2015 onwards
What did the Conservative government continue to support
(and also increase) levels of marketisation, diversity, selection and choice by encouraging setting up more free schools. The government actively encouraged parents to set up free schools in partnership with private companies
What Plans did Theresa May announce and when
In 2016, plans for a new generation of grammar schools which she argued will be ‘engines of social mobility’ for bright working-class children.
When was Theresa’s plan dropped
In 2017, after she got a lot of resistance from her own party as well as opposition parties
