Educational Policy And Inequality Flashcards
What are educational policies and what issues are they a response of?
It refers to the plans and strategies for education introduced by government
- equal opportunities
- selection and choice
- control of education
- Marketisation and privatisation
When did the state make schooling compulsory from ages 5 to 13 and why?
1880
Industrialisation increased the need for an educated workforce
What education act brought in the tripartite system?
1944 education act/Butler Act
Why was the tripartite system introduced?
Education began to be influenced by the idea of meritocracy- individuals should achieve their status and not have it ascribed to them at birth
What was the tripartite system?
Children were to be selected and allocated to one of three different types of technical schools according to their aptitudes and abilities in the 11+ exam
What was a grammar school?
Offered an academic curriculum and access to non manual jobs and higher education. They were for those who passed the 11+ exam, usually middle class
What were the secondary modern schools?
Offered a non academic, practical curriculum and access to manual work for those who failed the 11+ exam. Mainly working class
What was the third type of school in the tripartite system?
Technical schools
How did the tripartite system reproduce class inequality?
By channeling the two social classes into two different types of schools that offered unequal opportunities. Reproduced gender inequality by requiring girls to get higher marks in the 11+ to pass. It legitimated inequality through the ideology that ability is inborn. A child’s environment greatly affects their success and they shouldn’t have their future decided at 11
When was the comprehensive system introduced?
1965 onwards
Why were comprehensive schools introduced?
Aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic
Why does a grammar-secondary modern divide still exist in some areas?
It was left to local education authority to decide whether to ‘go comprehensive’
What do functionalists think of comprehensives?
Argue that Comps promote social integration by bringing children of different social backgrounds together in one school. Although it’s argued that there is little social mixing between classes because of streaming.
They see comps as more meritocratic because it gives children a longer period to prove their abilities
What do marxists think of comps?
They are not meritocratic. They reproduce class inequality through generations through streaming and labelling. Comps appear to be more equal- myth of meritocracy. Failure seems the fault of the individual not the system
What is marketisation?
The process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state
What act helped marketisation become a central theme of government education policy?
1988 Education Reform Act introduced by Thatcher
What happened from 1997?
The New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown followed marketisation policies, emphasising standards, diversity and choice.
What happened to marketisation from 2010?
The conservative lib dem coalition government took marketisation further by creating academies and free schools
What were some of the policies to promote marketisation?
Publication of league tables and ofsted reports Business sponsorship of schools Formula funding Academies Tuition fees Free schools
What did Miriam David describe marketise education as?
Parentocracy- rule by parents. Power shifts from producers to consumers.
What does Will Bartlett argue league tables create?
Cream skimming- good schools can be more selective, recruiting high achieving middle class pupils Silt shifting- good schools can avoid taking less able working class pupils that would damage their results. =inequality
How does formula funding create class inequality?
Good schools attract more pupils which means they can afford better teaching and equipment which means middle class students do better
Who researched parental choice and what did they find?
Sharon Gerwitz in a study of 14 London secondary schools. In theory the education market gives everyone a fair choice but but in practice middle class capital gives an advantage
What is a privileged skilled chooser according to Gerwitz?
Professional middle class parents who used their cultural and economic capital to gain educational capital for their children. Cultural capital meant they knew how school admissions worked and had time to visit schools. Their economic capital meant they could afford to get their children around the system eg paying extra travel costs so they could go to better schools out of their area
