Educational Policy and Inequality

Question 1

What act brought in the Tripartite system ?

Answer 1

The 1944 education act brought in the Tripartite system

Question 2

What is the Tripartite system ?

Answer 2

The tripartite system was where children were selected and allocated to one of the three different types of secondary schools , according to their abilities which were defined by the 11+ exam.

Question 3

What were the 3 types of schools in the Tripartite system ?

Answer 3

Grammar schools - offered an academic curriculum and access to non manual jobs and higher education . they were for pupils with academic ability who passed the 11+ exam and were mostly middle class.
Secondary modern schools - offered a non academic , practical curriculum and access to manual work for pupils who failed their 11 + exam . These pupils were mainly working class.
-Technical schools - They were intended to focus on ‘technical’ subjects such as mechanics and engineering, and prepare students to work in related trades. However, while grammar schools and secondary moderns were rolled out nationwide, there were significantly fewer technical schools.

Question 4

How did the tripartite system fail its aim of promoting meritocracy ?

Answer 4

Thus , rather than promoting meritocracy , the tripartite system and 11+ reproduced class inequality by channeling the 2 social classes into 2 different types of schools that offered unequal opportunities.

Question 5

How did the tripartite system reproduce gender inequality ?

Answer 5

The tripartite system also reproduced gender inequality by requiring girls to gain higher marks than boys in the 11+ exam to obtain a grammar school place.

Question 6

When was the comprehensive school system introduced ?

Answer 6

The comprehensive school system was introduced in 1965.

Question 7

What was the aim of the 1965 comprehensive school system ?

Answer 7

The 1965 comprehensive school system aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic

Question 8

What did the 1965 comprehensive school system do to meet their aims of overcoming the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic ?

Answer 8

The 1965 comprehensive school system abolished the 11+ exam , along with grammars and secondary modern schools , which were replaced with comprehensive schools that all pupils within the area could attend.

Question 9

What is a comprehensive school ?

Answer 9

A comprehensive school is a school that all pupils within that area could attend regardless of their ability.

Question 10

Why do grammar and secondary modern schools still exist in some areas ?

Answer 10

It was left to the local education authority to decide whether to go comprehensive and not all did so. As a result , grammar and secondary modern schools still exist in many areas.

Question 11

Why do Functionalists like comprehensive schools ?

Answer 11

Functionalists like comprehensive schools because they promote social integration by bringing children of different social classes together in one school.

Question 12

How does Ford criticize the functionalist view that comprehensive schools promote social integration by bringing children of different social classes together ?

Answer 12

Ford found little social mixing between working and middle class pupils in a comprehensive school and this was largely because of streaming.

Question 13

How do Functionalists see the comprehensive school system as more meritocratic compared to tripartite systems ?

Answer 13

Functionalists see the comprehensive system as more meritocratic because it gives pupils a longer period in which to develop and show their abilities ,unlike the tripartite system which sought to select most able pupils at the age of 11.

Question 14

How do Marxists argue that comprehensive schools are not meritocratic ?

Answer 14

Marxists argue that comprehensive schools are not meritocratic . Rather they reproduce class inequality from one generation to the next through the continuation of the practice of streaming and labelling which continue to deny working class children equal opportunity.

Question 15

How can the myth of meritocracy be applied to comprehensive schools according to marxists ?

Answer 15

Yet by not selecting children at 11 , comprehensives may appear to offer equal chances to all but this is the myth of meritocracy because it justifies class inequality by making unequal achievement seem fair and just because failure is the fault of the individual rather than the education system as have had more chance to show their ability

Question 16

What is meant by the term marketisation ?

Answer 16

Marketisation refers to the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state such as education. . Marketisation has created an education market

Question 17

What are the 2 ways that marketisation has created an education market ?

Answer 17

-Reducing direct state control over education
-increasing both competition between schools and parental choice of schools.

Question 18

Why do New right favour marketisation ?

Answer 18

New right favour marketisation because they argue that 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 such as success in exams will thrive but those that don’t will go out of business.

Question 19

What are some policies that help to promote marketisation ?

Answer 19

-Publication of league tables and Ofsted inspections reports that rank each school according to its exam performance and gives parents the information that they need to chose the right school
-Business sponsorship of schools
-Open enrolment , allowing successful schools to recruit more pupils
-specialist schools , specialising in IT, languages etc which widens parental choice
-Formula funding , where schools receive the same amount of funding for each pupil
-Schools being allowed to opt out of local authority control eg to become academies
-Schools having to compete to attract pupils
-Introduction of tuition fees for higher education.
-Allowing parents and others to set up free schools

Question 20

What does David see marketised education as , how does this benefit the education system ?

Answer 20

David describes marketised education as a parentocracy (rule by parents ) because power is shifted away from the teachers and schools and to the consumers - the parents . They claim this encourages diversity among schools , gives parents more choice and raises standards

Question 21

How do Ball and Whitty criticise marketisation of education ?

Answer 21

Ball and Whitty despite the claimed benefits of marketisation argue that it has increased inequalities . For example , ball and Whitty Note how marketisation policies such as exam league tables and the funding formula reproduce class inequalities by creating in equalities between schools

Question 22

What are 2 things that Bartlett argues publication of good league tables leads to ?

Answer 22

-cream skimming - good schools can be more selective , chose their own customers and recruit high achieving , mainly middle class pupils and as a result these pupils gain an advantage
-Silt shifting — good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools league table position.

Question 23

What is Cream skimming ?

Answer 23

Cream Skimming - good schools can be more selective , chose their own customers and recruit high achieving , mainly middle class pupils. As a result , these pupils gain an advantage

Question 24

What is silt shifting ?

Answer 24

Silt shifting - good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools league table position

Question 25

How do schools get the funding formula and how does this affect schools ?

Answer 25

Schools are allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they attract . As a result , popular schools get more funds so can afford better teachers and facilities etc .On the other hand , unpopular schools lose income and find it difficult to afford good teachers and facilities as their funding is insufficient because don’t attract pupils

Question 26

What are the 3 types of parents that Gewirtz identified in her study of 14 London secondary schools based on their differences in parents economic and cultural capital which leads to class choice is in how far they can exercise their choice for secondary school ?

Answer 26

-Privileged skilled choosers
-disconnected local choosers
-Semi skilled choosers

Question 27

What are the privileged skilled choosers identified in Geweritz study ?

Answer 27

Privileged skilled choosers were mainly professional middle class parents who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children , Being confident and well educated they were able to take full advantage of the choices open to them. These parents possessed cultural capital , they knew how the school admission process works and they have the time to visit schools and the skills to research the options that are available to them. Their economic capital also means that they can afford to move their children around the education system to get the best deal out of it for example paying extra travel costs so that their children could attend better schools out of their area.

Question 28

What are the disconnected local choosers identified by Gewirtz ?

Answer 28

Disconnected local choosers - were the working class parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital.
They found it difficult to understand the school admissions procedures . They were less confident in their dealings with the school , less aware of the choices open to them , and less able to manipulate the system to their own advantage .
Many of them attached more importance to the safety and quality of the school facilities compared to the league tables .
Distance and travel costs were major restrictions on their choice of school. Their funds were limited and a place at the nearest school was often their only realistic option for their children.

Question 29

What are semi skilled choosers identified by Gewirtz ?

Answer 29

Semi - skilled choosers - these parents were mainly working class but unlike the disconnected local choosers , they were ambitious for their children.
However , they lacked the cultural capital and found it difficult to make sense of the education market , often having to rely on other peoples opinions about schools.
They were often frustrated at their inability to get their children into the schools they wanted

Question 30

How does Ball argue parentocracy is a myth ?

Answer 30

Ball argues that parentocracy is a myth and not a reality and parentocracy legitimates the inequality marketisation creates . It makes it appear that all parents have the same freedom to chose which school to send their children to but as Gewirtz shows , middle class parents are better able to take advantage of the choices available to them.

Question 31

What are some policies that new labour government implemented that have had the aim of decreasing inequality ?

Answer 31

-designating some deprived areas as education action zones and providing them with additional resources
-The aim higher programme to raise the aspirations of groups who are under represented in higher education
-education maintenance allowance - payments to students from low income backgrounds to encourage them to stay on after 16 to gain better qualifications
-Introduction of the national literacy strategy , literacy and numeracy hours and reducing primary school class sizes . It is claimed that these policies are of greater benefit to disadvantaged groups and so help to reduce inequality
-Increased funding for state education

Question 32

How does Benn criticise new labour policies designed to decrease inequality caused by marketisation ?

Answer 32

Benn sees a contradiction between Labour’s policies to tackle inequality and its commitment to marketisation. For example , despite introducing education maintenance allowance to encourage students to stay in education after 16 , labour also introduced tuition fees for higher education which deters individuals from going to university

Question 33

In 2010, schools were encouraged to leave locals authority and become academies what does this mean ?

Answer 33

In 2010 , when schools left the local authorities control and became academies , funding was taken from the local authority budgets and given directly to academies by the central government ,also academies had the control of their curriculum

Question 34

What are Free schools ?

Answer 34

Free schools are funded directly by the state but free schools are set up and run by the parents , teachers , faith organisations or businesses rather than the local authority

Question 35

How do supporters of free schools argue they improve educational standards ?

Answer 35

Supporters of free schools claim that free schools improve educational standards by taking control away from the state and giving the power to the parents . Free schools give parents and teachers the opportunity to create a new school if they are unhappy with the state schools in their local area

Question 36

What does Allen argue about free schools who they benefit from?

Answer 36

Allen argues that research from Sweden , where 20 % of schools are free schools , shows that free schools only benefit children from highly educated families as evidence shows that free schools take fewer disadvantaged pupils

Question 37

What does Ball argue that promoting academies and free schools has led to regarding the control over educational provision in England ?

Answer 37

-Fragmentation - The comprehensive system is being replaced by a patchwork of diverse provision , much of it involving private providers , that leads to greater inequality in opportunities
-centralisation of control - Central government alone have the power to allow to require schools to become academies or allow free schools to be set up . These schools are funded directly by central government . Their rapid growth has greatly reduced the role of elected local authorities in education

Question 38

Control of educational provision in England - What does Ball mean by fragmentation ?

Answer 38

Fragmentation - The comprehensive system is being replaced by a patchwork of diverse provision , much of it involving private providers which leads to greater inequality in opportunities

Question 39

Control of educational provision in England - What does ball mean by centralisation of control ?

Answer 39

Centralisation of control - central governments alone have the power to allow or require schools to become academies or allow free schools to be set up . These schools are funded directly by the central government. Their rapid growth has greatly reduced the role of elected local authorities in education

Question 40

What are 2 policies introduced by conservatives to reduce inequality caused by marketisation ?

Answer 40

• free school meals for all children in reception until year 2
  -the pupil premium - money that the schools receive for each pupil from a disadvantaged background

Question 41

Evaluation of the pupil premium made by OFSTED ?

Answer 41

Ofsted found that in many cases the pupil premium is not spent on those that it is supposed to help

Question 42

What is meant by the term privatisation ?

Answer 42

Privatisation involves the transfer of public assets such as schools to private companies

Question 43

Example of a private company that is used in schools for exams - privatisation and globalisation ?

Answer 43

Manny private companies in the education services industry are foreign owned . The exam board Edexcel is owned by US educational publishing and testing giant Pearson

Question 44

How does Ball apply globalisation to exams ?

Answer 44

Ball says some Pearson exam answers are now marked in Sydney and Iowa

Question 45

What is meant by cola-isation of schools ?

Answer 45

Cola-isation refers to the development of brand loyalty through displays of logos and sponsorships

Question 46

Why does Molnar argue schools are targeted by private companies ?

Answer 46

Molnar argues schools are targeted by private companies because schools by their nature carry enormous goodwill and can thus confer legitimacy on anything associated with them . In other words , they are a kind of product endorsement

Question 47

What does Ball conclude that privitisation is becoming a key factor in?

Answer 47

Ball concludes that a change is taking place in which privitisation is becoming a key factor in shaping educational policies . These policies are focused on moving educational services out of the public sector controlled by the state , to be provided by private companies instead of. Education is being turned into a private profit making machine

Question 48

What policies have been introduced to reduce gender differences in subject choice ?

Answer 48

Policies such as Gist have been introduced to try to reduce gender differences in subject choice

Question 49

What was the first stage that policies had for raising the achievement of children from minority ethnic backgrounds ?

Answer 49

Assimilation. - policies focused on the need for pupils from minority ethnic groups to assimilate (taking in ) the mainstream British culture as a way of raising their achievement , especially by helping those who don’t have English as their first language

Question 50

What is a criticism of the assimilation policies to raise ethnic minority achievement ?

Answer 50

Critics argue that some minority groups who are underachieving such as African carribean pupils already speak English but the real cause of their underachievement lies in poverty and racism

Question 51

What was the second stage of policies that had the aim of raising ethical standards minority children’s achievement ?

Answer 51

Multicultural education
Aimed to promote the achievements of children from minority ethnic groups by valuing all cultures in the school curriculum , thereby raising minority pupils self esteem and achievements

Question 52

How does Stone criticise multi cultural education ?

Answer 52

Stone criticise multi cultural education because argues that black pupils do not fail due to lack of self esteem so their policy is misguided

Question 53

How do critical race theorists criticise multicultural education ?

Answer 53

Critical race theorists argue that multi cultural education is mere tokenism - it picks out stereotypical features of minority cultures for inclusion in the curriculum , but fail to tackle institutional racism

Question 54

What are the policies included in the third set of policies- social inclusion which were set to increase achievement of ethnic minority pupils ?

Answer 54

Social inclusion policies include -
-Detailed monitoring of exam results by ethnicity
-amending the race relations act to place a legal duty on schools to promote racial equality
-Help for voluntary Saturday schools in the black community
-English as an additional language programmes

Question 55

How does Mirza criticise social inclusion policies ?

Answer 55

Mirza argues that social inclusion policies instead of tackling the structural causes of ethnic inequality such as poverty and racism , these educational policies take a soft approach that focus on culture , behaviour and the home

Question 56

How does Gillborn criticise Police’s on raising ethnic minority achievement ?

Answer 56

Gillborn argues that institutionally racist policies , in relation to ethnocentric curriculum and assessment and streaming continue to disadvantage minority ethnic pupils