educational policy and inequality

Question 1

Most educational policy is a response to what issues?

Answer 1

1. Equal opportunities
2. Selection and choice
3. Control of education
4. Marketisation and privatisation

Question 2

1870

Answer 2

• education made compulsory and free
• early education known as elementary
• introduced because industrialisation increased the need for an educated workforce, competition from USA and Germany

Question 3

1880 - education act

Answer 3

The state made schooling compulsory from ages 5 to 13

Question 4

1918

Answer 4

The state became responsible for secondary education and school leaving age was raised to 14

Question 5

1944 - tripartite system

Answer 5

• primary education until the age of 11
• secondary school compulsory until age of 15
• further and higher education at 15+
• secondary education was determined by the 11+ exam

Question 6

Unfairness of the system

Answer 6

1. Lack of places available
2. Regional variation not found in all areas
3. 11 is an unfair age to decide your life
4. Most people in secondary modern schools didn’t do A levels
5. MC children have culture capital giving them the advantage over the WC
6. The tripartite system legitimated inequality through the ideology that ability is inborn

Question 7

1965 - comprehensive system

Answer 7

• the aim of comprehensives was to teach all under one roof regardless of social class, gender, ethnicity and ability
• it aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic
• the 11+ was to be abolished along with grammars and secondary moderns to be replaced with comprehensive schools

Question 8

Comprehensive system - advantages

Answer 8

• facilities, purpose, built
• lots of subjects
• specialist teachers
• mixed ability teaching
• exam opportunities (Alevels/GCSEs)

Question 9

comprehensive system - disadvantages

Answer 9

• too big (lost)
• progressive teaching
• most able not challenged

Question 10

1988 - introduced the policy of marketisation in education

Answer 10

Marketisation refers to the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between supplies into areas run by the state, such as education. Marketisation has created an ‘Education Market’ by

• reducing direct state control over education
• increasing both competitor between schools and parental choice of school

Question 11

Marketisation has become a central theme of government education policy since…

Answer 11

The 1988 education reform act - introduced by Margret Thatcher

Question 12

Neo liberals and the new right favour marketisation because…

Answer 12

They argue marketisation means that schools have to attract customers (parents) by competing with each other in the market. Schools that provide customers with what they want will thrive, and those that don’t will ‘go out of business’

Question 13

Parentocracy

Answer 13

Policies to promote marketisation include
1. Publication of league tables and OFSTED inspection reports
2. Business sponsorship of schools
3. Open enrolment
4. Specialist schools
5. Formula funding
6. Schools opting out of local authority control
7. Schools having to compete to attract pupils
8. Introduction to tuition fees for higher education

Question 14

1979 - 1997 conservative power

1988 education reform act

Answer 14

• all students to study the national curriculum and GCSEs
• pupils to sit SATS at 7, 11 and 14
• schools were to be entered into league tables to judge performance
• schools became more business like and controlled their own pinnacles
• increased OFSTED inspections
• ‘new vocationalism’ youth training schemes and work experience
• marketisation schools uses prospectuses and advertising to recruit students to their schools

Question 15

1997 onwards - new labour

Answer 15

Curriculum 2000
- Alevels become AS and A2s (for exam questions this is the best phase of government to use to illustrate social policies aimed at reducing inequality)
- more vocational choice - BTEC, AVCE, NVG
- Tomlinson enquiry - aim to increase flexibility and equality (14 - 19)
- more people to be university educated

Question 16

1997 - details of policy

Answer 16

Excellence in cities - extra resources provided for education in disadvantaged inner city areas, induced learning centres with IT facilities, learning mentors, and units for children at risk of exclusion

Question 17

1997 - purpose of policy

Answer 17

To improve results for disadvantaged children by helping them to overcome economic and social disadvantage

Question 18

What’s privatisation?

Answer 18

• transfer of assets and resources from state control into the hands of the private sector
• Neo liberal economic policy dominant in the UK since 1979 has looked to create ‘small state’
• differs from private education - fee paying schools not directly funded by government

Question 19

Policies 2010 - 2015

Answer 19

1. New style academies
2. Free schools
3. Pupil premium
4. English Baccalaureate - EBACC
5. Reform of the national curriculum
6. Reform of the examination system
7. Tougher performance targets for schools

Question 20

The privatisation of education

Answer 20

Privatisation is where services that were once owned and provided by the state are transferred to private companies, such as the transfer of education assets, management, functions or responsibilities to private interests such as companies, religious institutions, charities or other non governmental organisations

Question 21

Privatisation

Answer 21

• two types of privatisation in education
• endogenous privatisation (refers to privatisation within the education system, as schools, colleges and universities begin to operate more like private businesses) eg school dinners, cleaning, staff training

Question 22

Evaluation of privatisation

Answer 22

1. More efficient schools/ higher standards
2. More choice for parents
3. Improvement of ‘failing’ schools / the profit making motive makes them attractive
4. Increases profit for ruling class (Marxist view)/ capitalism
5. Interference in school by companies
6. Academies can use in trained and qualified teachers
7. Can opt out of national curriculum
8. Focus on profit rather than progress (some courses/services cut if unprofitable)
9. Control over the curriculum by companies could influence the context taught