Educational Policy and Inequality

Question 1

Educational policy in Britain before 1988:

what were schools like before the industrial revolution

Answer 1

There were no state schools.

Education was available only to a minority of the population. It was provided by fee paying schools for the well off

Before 1833, the sate spent no public money on education

Question 2

Educational policy in Britain before 1988:

How did the industrial revolution change the state’s attitude towards children’s education.

Answer 2

Industrialisation increased the need for an educated workforce and from the late 19th century the state began to become more involved with education.

Reflecting the growing importance of education the state made school compulsory for those aged 5-13 in 1880

Question 3

Educational policy in Britain before 1988:

How did social class determine what education a child received

Answer 3

The type of education that a person received depended on their class background. Schooling did little to change a child’s ascribed status. M/C pupils were given an academic curriculum to prepare them for carers in professions or office work.

W/C pupils were given a schooling to equip them with basic numeracy and literacy skills for routine factory work and to instil them an obedient attitude towards their superiors.

Question 4

Selection: the tripartite system:

How did education start to be influenced by meritocracy

Answer 4

From 1944 education began to be influenced by the idea of meritocracy that individuals should achieve their status in life through their own efforts and abilities rather tan it being ascribed at birth by their class background.

1944 Education Act brought in the tripartite system so called because children were to be selected and allocated to one of three different types of secondary schools according to their aptitudes and abilities. These were identified by the 11+ exam.

Question 5

Selection: the tripartite system:

What were the different schools that came from the tripartite system

Answer 5

Grammar schools- offered an academic curriculum and access to non manual jobs and higher education. They were for pupils who passed their 11+. These pupils were mainly M/C.

Secondary modern- offered a mix between academic and non academic who failed the 11+. These jobs often lead to factory work and these pupils were mainly W/C.

Technical schools- purely manual work. For those who failed 11+. Consisted of mainly W/C. There were not many of these schools.

Question 6

Selection: the tripartite system:

How did the tripartite system reproduce inequality

Answer 6

The tripartite system and the 11+ reproduced inequality by channelling the to social classes into different types of schools that offered unequal opportunities. The system also reproduced gender inequality by requiring girls to gain higher marks than boys in order to get into the grammar schools.

The tripartite system also legitimised inequality through the ideology that ability is inborn. It was argued that ability could be measured early on in life through the 11+. However in reality a child’s environment greatly affects their chances of success.

Question 7

The comprehensive school system:

When and why were comprehensive schools introduced

Answer 7

The comprehensive schools was introduced in many areas from 1965 onwards. Its aim was to overcome the class divided of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic.

The 11+ was to be abolished along with grammar and secondary moderns to be replaced by comprehensive schools that all pupils within the area can attend.

However it was left to the local education authority to decide whether to go comprehensive or not and not all schools changed. As a result, the grammar-secondary modern divide still exists in many areas.

Question 8

The comprehensive school system:

Problems with the comprehensive schools

Answer 8

However it was left to the local education authority to decide whether to go comprehensive or not and not all schools changed. As a result, the grammar-secondary modern divide still exists in many areas.

Question 9

Two theories on the role of comprehensive schools:

Functionalist ideas on the role of comprehensive schools

Answer 9

Functionalists argue that comprehensive schools promote social integration by bringing children from different social backgrounds together in one school. However a study done by Ford (1969) found little social mixing between the W/C and the M/C largely because of streaming.

Functionalists also see the comprehensive school system as more meritocratic because it gives pupils a longer time to develop their abilities unlike the tripartite system which sought to select the most able pupils at he age of 11.

Question 10

Two theories on the role of comprehensive schools:

Marxists ideas on the role of comprehensive schools

Answer 10

However a study done by Ford (1969) found little social mixing between the W/C and the M/C largely because of streaming.

However, Marxists argue that the comprehensive are not meritocratic, rather they reproduce class inequality from one generation to the next through the continuation of the practice of streaming and labelling. These continue to deny W/C children equal opportunity.

By not selecting children at the age of 11, comprehensive schools may appear to offer equal chances to all. This myth of meritocracy legitimises class inequality by the making unequal achievement seem fair and just because the failure looks like it is the fault of the individual rather than the system.

Question 11

Marketisation:

What is marketisation

Answer 11

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 by reducing direct state control, of education

increasing both competition between schools and increasing parental choice.

Marketisation has become a central theme of the government education policy since the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) introduced by the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.

From 1997, New Labour governments of Blair and Brown followed similar choices emphasising standards, diversity and choice. For 2010, the conservative- liberal democrat coalition government took marketisation even further for example by creating academies and free schools.

The New Right favour marketisation. They argue that marketisation means that schools have to attract parents by competing against each other in the market. Schools provide customers with what they want- such as success in exams- will thrive and those that don’t get shut down.

Question 12

Marketisation:

How has marketisation created an education market

Answer 12

Marketisation has created an education market by reducing direct state control, of education

increasing both competition between schools and increasing parental choice.

Question 13

Marketisation:

How has marketisation become a central part of government policies

Answer 13

Marketisation has become a central theme of the government education policy since the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) introduced by the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.

From 1997, New Labour governments of Blair and Brown followed similar choices emphasising standards, diversity and choice. For 2010, the conservative- liberal democrat coalition government took marketisation even further for example by creating academies and free schools.

The New Right favour marketisation. They argue that marketisation means that schools have to attract parents by competing against each other in the market. Schools provide customers with what they want- such as success in exams- will thrive and those that don’t get shut down.

Question 14

Parentocracy:

Answer 14

Policies to promote marketisation include.

publication of league tables and Ofsted inspections reports that rank each school according to its exam performance and give parents the information they need to choose the right school

Business sponsorship of schools

Open enrolment, allowing successful schools to recruit more pupils.

Specialist schools specialising in IT language etc to widen parental choice

Formula funding where pupils receive the same amount of funding for each pupil.

School being allowed to opt out of local authority control e.g become academies.

Schools having to attract pupils .

Introduction of tuition fees for higher education

Allowing parents and others to set up free schools.

Question 15

Parentocracy:

David’s views on parentocracy

Answer 15

David (1993)- describes marketised education as parentocracy (education rules by parents. Supporters of marketisation argue that in an education market power shifts away from teachers and schools to parents.

They claim that this encourages diversity among schools and gives parents more choice as well as raises standards.

Question 16

The reproduction of inequality:

How does marketisation lead to class inequality

Answer 16

Ball (1994) and Whitty (1998) marketisation such as exam league tables and funding formula reproduce class inequalities between the schools.

Question 17

The reproduction of inequality:

How to league table and cream skimming lead to class inequalities

Answer 17

the policies of publishing each school’s exam results in a league tables ensures that schools achieve good results are more in demand because parents are more attracted to those with good league table rankings Bartlett (1993)

This encourages cream skimming- good schools can be more selective an choose their own customers and recruit thigh achieving mainly M/C pupils as a result, these pupils gain an advantage.

silt-shifting- good schools can avoid takin less able pupils who are more likely to get bad results and damage the school’s league table position.

For schools with poor league table position , they cannot afford to be selective and they have to take less able mainly working class students and they remain unattractive to M/C parents.

The overall effect of league tables is to produce unequal schools that reproduce social class inequalities.

Question 18

The reproduction of inequality:

How does formula funding lead to class inequalities

Answer 18

Schools are allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they attract schools can get more funds and so can afford better qualified teachers and better facilities. Their popularity allows them to be more selective and attract more able and more ambitious M/C applicants.

On the other hand, unpopular schools lose income and find it difficult to match the teacher skills to their facilities. The popular schools with good results and M/C pupils thrive and unpopular schools fail to attract pupils and their funding is further reduced.

Public Policy’s Research (2012)- found that competition orientated educated systems such as Britain’s produce more segregation between children of different social backgrounds

Question 19

The reproduction of inequality:

How does marketisation benefit the M/C

Answer 19

Not only do marketisation policies benefit the middle class by creating inequalities between schools. By increasing parental choice, it also advantages the M/C parents whose economic and cultural capital puts them in a better position to choose good schools for their children.

Question 20

The reproduction of inequality:

Gerwirtz: parental choice

Answer 20

Gewirtz (1995)- found that differences between parents economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far they could exercise choice of secondary schools.

Question 21

The reproduction of inequality:

Gerwirtz: parental choice: What were the three types of parents choosing their children’s education

Answer 21

Three main parent choosers e.g privileged skilled chooser, disconnected chooser and semi skilled choosers.

Question 22

The reproduction of inequality:

Gewirtz: parental choice: privileged-skilled choosers

Answer 22

Privileged skills chooses, they were mainly professional M/C parents who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children, they were able to take full advantage of the choices open to them.

These parents possessed cultural capital. They knew how admissions systems worked for example the importance of putting a particular school as first choice . They had time to visit schools an skills to research the options available to them.

Their economic capital also meant that they could afford to move their children around the education system to get the best deal; out of it e.g by paying extra travel costs so that their children could attend better schools that weren’t in their area.

Question 23

The reproduction of inequality:

Gerwirtz: parental choice: Disconnected choosers

Answer 23

Disconnected local choosers, These were W/C parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of both cultural and economic capital.

They found it difficult to understand how school admissions worked. They were less confident in their dealings with schools and less aware of the choices open to them and less able to manipulate the system to their advantage

Many of them attached more importance to safety and the quality of the school facilities than to league tables and long term ambitions

Distance and costs of travel were major restrictions on their choice of school. Their funds were limited and a place at the nearest school was often only the realistic option for their children

Question 24

The reproduction of inequality:

Gewirtz: parental choice: semi-skilled choosers

Answer 24

Semi-skilled choosers- These parents were also mainly W/C but unlike the disconnected local choosers they were ambitious for their choosers. However, they too also lacked cultural capital and found it difficult to make sense of the education market and often had to rely on other people’s opinions about schools. They were often frustrated at their inability to get their children into schools they wanted,

although in theory the education market gives everyone greater choice, Gewirtz concludes that in practice M/C parents possess cultural and economic capita and have more choice than W/C parents.

Question 25

The myth of meritocracy:

How is marketisation of education not meritocratic

Answer 25

not only does marketisation reproduce inequality, it also legitimates it by concealing its true causes and by justifying its existence.

Ball believes that marketisation gives the appearance of a parentocracy. The education system sees as if its is based on the parents having a choice. However Ball argues that parentocracy is ma myth. It makes it appear as if all parents have the same freedoms to choose which school to send their children to.

In reality Gewirtz (1995) shows that M/C parents are better able to take advantage of the choices available

Leech and Campos (2003)- M/C parents can move into the catchment area of more desirable schools.

By disguising the fact that schooling continues to reproduce class inequality in this way, the myth of parentocracy makes inequality in the education system seem fair and inevitable

Question 26

New Labour and Inequality:

How did New Labour try to tackle inequality through their policies

Answer 26

while marketisation policies have tended to increase inequality, the new labour governments of 1997-2010 also introduced a number of policies aimed at reducing it.

These include

The Aim Higher programme to raise the aspirations of groups that are under represented in higher education.

Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA’s)- payments to students from low income households to encourage them to stay on post 16 to gain better qualifications.

The introduction of the National Literacy Strategy, literacy and numeracy hours and reducing class sizes. It claimed that these policies are of greater benefit to disadvantaged groups and help to reduce inequality

Question 27

New Labour and Inequality:

Criticism of New Labour’s policies on tackling inequality

Answer 27

Benn (2012)- there s a contradiction between Labour’s policies on wanting to reduce inequality and its commitment to marketisation, ‘New Labour paradox’

For example, despite introducing Education Maintained Allowance, Labour also introduced tuition fees for higher education that may deter W/C from going.

New Labour governments neither abolished fee-paying private schools or removed their charitable status estimated to be worth over £165 million per year

Question 28

The Conservative government policies from 2010:

Answer 28

The Conservative -led coalition (2010-2015) and the Conservative government from 2015 accelerated the move away from an education based system largely on comprehensive schools run by local authorities.

Its policies have been strongly influenced by the New Right ideas about reducing the role of the sate in provision and privatisation.

Cameron (PM-2010-2015) stated that the aim of the coalition education’s policy was to encourage competition by freeing schools from the state through policies such as academies and free schools.

As well as this, cuts were made to the education budget as part of the government’s general policies of reducing state spending

Question 29

Academies:

Answer 29

From 2010, all schools were encouraged to leave local authority control and become academies.

 Funding was taken from local authority budgets and given directly to academies by central government, and academies were given control over their curriculum. 

By 2017, over 68% of all secondary schools had converted to academy status.  

The Coalition government, by allowing any school to become an academy, removed the focus on reducing inequality. 

Question 30

Free Schools:

Answer 30

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

Supporters of free schools claim that they improve educational standards by taking control away from the state and giving power to parents. 

 Free schools, it is claimed, give parents and teachers the opportunity to create a new school if they are unhappy with the state schools in their local area. 

A Selection by mortgage? Not all parents can afford to move into the catchment area of a popular school. 

Question 30

Free Schools:

Ball’s view on Free Schools and Academies

Answer 30

  
Ball (2011) argues that promoting academies and free schools has led to both increased fragmentation and increased centralisation of control over educational provision in England. 

Question 31

Free Schools:

What is fragmentation

Answer 31

 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. 

Question 32

Free schools:

What is centralisation:

Answer 32

Centralisation of control Central government alone has the power to allow or 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 33

Criticisms on the Coalition government policies:  

Answer 33

In England, evidence shows that free schools take fewer disadvantaged pupils than nearby schools.  

For example, in 2011 only 6.4% of pupils at Bristol Free School were eligible for free school meals, compared with 22.5% of pupils across the city as a whole (DoE 2012). 

Free schools create a selection by mortgage? Not all parents can afford to move into the catchment area of a popular school. 

Question 34

Policies to reduce inequality in education:  

Answer 34

Free school meals for all children in reception, year one and year two. 

The Pupil Premium- money that schools receive for each pupil from a disadvantaged background. 

each pupil from a disadvantaged background. 

  

Question 35

Criticisms of how the Conservative government policies from 2010 haven’t reduced inequality:  

Answer 35

Ofsted (2012) found those it many cases the Pupil Premium is not spent it is supposed to help.  

Only one in ten head teachers said that it had significantly changed how they supported pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Also, spending on many areas of was cut e.g spending on school buildings was cut by 60% 

 (EMA) was abolished and university tuition fees tripled to £9,000 a year - increased university fees may discourage them from entering higher education.  

Question 36

Blurring the public/private boundary:  

How is there a blurring between the public and private boundary in education

Answer 36

Many senior officials in the public sector, such as directors of local authorities and head teachers, now leave to set up or work for private sector education businesses.  

These companies then bid for contracts to provide services to schools and local authorities. For example, two companies set up in this way hold four of the five national contracts for school inspection services. 

 Allyson Pollack (2004) notes, this flow of personnel allows companies to buy ‘insider knowledge’ to help win contracts, as well as side-stepping local authority democracy.  

Question 37

The privatisation of education:  

How is education becoming privatised

Answer 37

In recent years, there has been a trend towards the privatisation of important aspects of education, both in the UK and globally.  

Private companies are involved in an ever-increasing range of activities in education, including building schools; providing supply teachers, work-based learning, careers advice and Ofsted inspection services; and even running entire local education authorities. 

 Ball (2007), companies involved in such work expect to make up to ten times as much profit as they do on other contracts. However, local authorities are often obliged to enter into these agreements as the only way of building new schools because of a lack of funding by central government. 

Question 38

Education as a commodity:  

How is education becoming a commodity

Answer 38

Ball-. Policy is increasingly focused on moving educational services out of the public sector controlled by the nation-state, to be provided by private companies instead. 

 In the process, education is being turned into a ‘legitimate object of private profit-making’, a commodity to be bought and sold in an education market. 

Marxists e.g  Hall (2011) academies as an example of handing over public services to private capitalists, such as educational businesses. 

 In the Marxist view, the neoliberal claim that privatisation and competition drive up standards is a myth used to legitimate the turning of education into a source of private profit. 

Question 39

Privitisation and globalisation of education:

How is education becoming globalised

Answer 39

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

Buckingham and Scanlon (2005), the UK’s four leading educational software companies are all owned by global a multinationals  

Often, private companies are exporting UK education policy to other countries e.g Ofsted-type inspections and then providing the services to deliver the policies. 

 As a result, nation-states are becoming less important in policymaking, which is shifting to a global level and which is also often privatised. 

Question 40

The cola-isation of schools:  

How is education becoming colaised

Answer 40

The private sector is also indirectly marketizes education e.g  through vending machines on school premises and the development of brand loyalty through displays of logos and sponsorships. This process has been called the 
‘cola-isation’ of schools. 

Molnar (2005), schools are targeted by private companies because, they are a kind of product endorsement. 

The benefits to schools and pupils of this private sector involvement are often very limited. For example, Ball, a Cadbury’s sports equipment promotion was scrapped after it was revealed that pupils would have to eat 5,440 chocolate bars just to qualify for a set of volleyball posts. 

Sharon Beder (2009), UK families spent £110,000 in Tesco supermarkets in return for a single computer for schools. 

Question 41

Policies that impact gender:

What policies in education affect gender

Answer 41

In the 19th century, females were largely excluded from higher education.  

Under the tripartite system, girls often had to achieve a higher mark than boys in the 11+ in order to obtain a grammar school place. 

Since the 1970s, however, policies such as GIST have been introduced to try to reduce gender differences in subject choice.  

Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975 - helps women realise that they are equal to men. Helps them to achieve more

Question 42

Policies that impact ethnicity:

What policies affect ethnicity

Answer 42

However, critics argue that some minority groups who are at risk of underachieving, such as African Caribbean pupils, already speak English and that the real cause of their underachievement lies in poverty or racism. 

Multicultural education (MCE) policies through the 1980s and into the 1990s 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. 

Gifted and Talented programmes- programme that was brought in to help those who are bright but come from ethnic minority backgrounds

Aiming high- aimed at trying to support and raise black Caribbean boys achievement.

Question 43

Criticisms of Multi-cultural education:  

Answer 43

Maureen Stone (1981) argues that black pupils do not fail for lack of self-esteem, so MCE is misguided. 

 Critical race theorists argue that MCE  picks out stereotypical features of minority cultures for inclusion in the curriculum, but fails to tackle institutional racism. 

Question 44

Criticism of the Social inclusion programme:  

Answer 44

Mirza 2005- argues that, instead of tackling the structure causes of ethnic inequality such as poverty and racism, causational policy still takes a ‘soft approach that focuses on culture, behaviour and the home. 

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