Impact Of The New Right Education Policy 1979-1997

Question 1

Competition choice and consumers.

Answer 1

COMPETITION: between schools recruiting students nd exam results
CHOICE: offering. Variety for parents
CONSUMERS: parents/pupils = consumers in education market

NR argue that the nitro of competition between schools would led to n increase in standards as education o offer would have to improve

Question 2

Who describes parentocrcay and what do they describe it as

Answer 2

MIRIAM DAVID:
- describes marketised education as a parentocracy.
- Parents can choose school forcing schools to raise standards or they will face the consequences of under achievement

Question 3

What’s and A03 point of competition choice and consumers

Answer 3

GERWITZ: believed that there was three degrees of choosers
1. PRIVILEGED CHOOSERS:
- Middle class
- Used economic and cultural capital gain educational capital
- know the admissions
- Can afford to meet the catchment area
2. DISCONNECTED CHOOSERS:
- working class
- Lack capital
- Emphasis on child’s happiness
- Based on on closest school
3. SEMISKILLED CHOOSERS:
- Ambitious for child
- Working class
- Lack cultural capital
- Frustrated child doesn’t get into first choice

Question 4

How do schools operate like businesses

Answer 4

• increased numbers of open days/evenings
• professional websites and prospectuses
• advertising in the local community via newspapers billboards TV etc
• some appoint senior managers from a business background
• most schools have marketing departments and allocate significant amounts of their budget to this

Question 5

New right policies that create and education market

Answer 5

1. OPEN ENROLMENT: state schools are compelled to recruit maximum amount of students
2. FORMULA FUNDING: schools paid based on how many pupils they recruit - failure means schoools go out of business
3. LEAGUE TABLES: published for SATs GCSEs and A-levels so parents have information about schools
4. OFSTED REPORT AND INSPECTIONS: published so parents could evaluate a schools strengths and weaknesses
5. NATIONAL CURRICULUM: so schools could be compared by league table. National Curriculum guaranteed valid comparisons
6. 1988 EDUCATION ACT: forcing schools to follow national curriculum placing an emphasis on traditional subjects

Question 6

A03of the new rights policies which have created an education market

Answer 6

BARLETT AND LE GRAND:
League tables have led to schools being more selective in two ways:
1. Cream skimming:
- schools pick best pupils to improve results - league table positions
- these pupils tend to be MC
2. Silt shifting:
- schools don’t offer places to pupils who wont help their results
- Likely to be WC
- Schools do this by selection by mortgage- selecting schools based on catchment areas

Question 7

What are their vocational policies

Answer 7

• conservatives = concerned for school leavers with a lack of specialist skills arguing this is a major cause of high levels of unemployment in the 1980s
  Vocational policies include:
  1. Youth training schemes:
• 2 year course
• combining work expirence and education
• Aimed at Unemployed young workers who where believed to lack skills
  2. GNVQs: general national vocational qualifications:
• vocational alternatives to academic courses
• no end course exam
• favouring course work
• eventually became BTECs and soon replaced by T-levels

Question 8

A03 vooctonal policies

Answer 8

FINN: believed there was a hidden agenda behind YTS and the 2 objectives behind it where:
1. Trainees could be used as a cheap source of labour
2. The scheme would reduce embarrassing unemployment stats

Gov said school leavers were unemployable. Finn believed this was false as they had experience through part time jobs. The real problem = lack of jobs