inequality in policies

Question 1

Educational policy in Britain pre 1988

Answer 1

Late 18th century - no state schools, education available to minority.
Industrialisation increases need for educated workforce & from late 19th century state began to become more involved with education. Mc pupils given academic curriculum to prepare them for career in professions for office work. Wc given schooling to equip them with basic numeracy & literacy skills meets for routine factory work & instil them obedient attitude to superiors.

Question 2

Selection: the tripartite system 1944

Answer 2

Children selected & allocated to 1 of 3 different types of secondary school according to 11+ results.
- grammar schools, offered academic curriculum & access to non manual jobs & higher education. They were for pupils with academic ability who passed 11+ = mainly mc.
- secondary modern, offered non academic practical curriculum & access to manically work for pupils who failed 11+ = mainly wc.
- technical schools, existed in few areas only. TS & 11+ - reproduces class inequality by channelling 2 school classes into 2 different types of school that offered unequal opportunities, also reproduces gender inequality - making girls gain higher marks to get grammar school place.
TS - legitimated inequalities trough ideology that ability is inborn.

Question 3

The comprehensive school system

Answer 3

Introduced in 1965, aimed to overcome class divide of TS & make education more meritocratic. 11+ be abolished & grammars & secondary moderns - replaced by comprehensive schools that all pupils within area would attend. Left to local education authority decide where to go comprehensive & not all did = grammar secondary modern still exists.

Question 4

2 theories of the role of comprehensives

Answer 4

Functionalists - comprehensives promote social integration by bringing children of different social classes together in 1 school. It's more meritocratic as it gives pupils longer periods in which to develop & show their abilities unlike TS.
Marxists - comprehensives not meritocratic, reproduce class inequality from 1 gen 2 next through continuation of practice of streaming & labelling - continue to deny wc children equal opportunity.

Question 5

Education reform act 1988

Answer 5

Marketisation, league tables, parentocracy, ofsted, national curriculum = improve schools through competition. Good schools = good league table ranking, bad schools = bad rankings. Pick & choose students = educational triage - A-C economy.

Question 6

Marketisation

Answer 6

Process of introducing market forces of consumer choice & competition between suppliers into areas run by state - education. It’s created education market by reducing direct state control over education & increasing both competition between schools & parental choice of school.
Become central theme of government education policy since 1988 education reform act introduced by conservatives. New labour government emphasising standards, diversity & choice. From 2010 conservatives took marketisation even further - creating free schools & academies.
Neo & new right like this = schools have to attract customers - parents by competing with each other.

Question 7

Parentocracy

Answer 7

Policies to promote marketisation include:
- publication of league tables & ofsted reports.
- business sponsorship of schools.
- allowing parents & others to set up free schools.
David - marketised education as parentocracy = rules by parents. Education market - power shifts away from producers (teachers & schools) to consumers (parents). Encourages diversity among schools, gives parents more choice & raises standards.

Question 8

Reproduction of inequality

Answer 8

Increased inequality from marketisation.
Ball & Whitty - marketisation policies such as exam league tables & funding formula reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities between schools.

Question 9

League tables & cream skimming

Answer 9

Publishing schools exam results in league tables = ensures schools that achieve good results in more demand as parents are attracted to those with good league table rankings.
Bartlett - cream skimming: good schools can be more selective, choose own customers & recruit high achieving mainly mc pupils = gain advantage.
- silt shifting: good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who get poor results & damage schools league table position.

Question 10

Funding formula

Answer 10

Schools allocated funds by formula based on how many pupils they attract = popular schools get more funds & can afford better qualified teachers & better facilities. Popularity allows them to be more selective & attracts more able/ambitious mc kids. Unpopular schools lose income & difficult to match teacher skills & facilities of more successful rivals = failure & funding is reduced.

Question 11

Gewirtz: parental choice

Answer 11

Study of 14 London secondary schools = differences in parents economic & cultural capital = class differences in how far they can exercise choice of secondary school. 3 types of parents:
- privileged skilled choosers = mc parents used economic & cultural capital to gain educational capital for children. Were prosperous, confident & well educated, able to take full adv of choices. Parents had cultural capital - know how school admissions systems work.
- disconnected local choosers = wc parents, choices = restricted by lack of economic & cultural capital. Found it difficult to understand school admissions, less confident in dealings & had less adv. Distance & cost of travel = restrictions on choice of school.
- semi skilled choosers = wc parents but ambitious for kids. Lack cultural capital & difficult making sense of education market & rely on others opinions.
Gewirtz = mc parents possess cultural & economic capital & have more choice than wc.

Question 12

Myth of parentocracy

Answer 12

Ball - it's a myth not reality. Makes it appear that all parents have same freedom to choose which school to send their kids to.
Gewirtz = mc parents better able to take adv of choices.
Disguising schooling reproduces class inequality = myth of parentocracy makes inequality in education appear fair & inevitable.

Question 13

New labour & inequality 1997

Answer 13

Reduce inequality:

• designations deprived areas as education action zones & giving them more resources.
• aim higher programmes to raise aspirations of groups who are under represented in higher education.
• education maintenance allowances = payments to students from low incomes to encourage them to stay in school after 16 = better qualifications.
• sure start = national literacy strategy, lit & numeracy hours & reducing primary school classes = reduce inequality.

Question 14

Coalition government policies 2010

Answer 14

Move away from education based on comprehend schools run by local academies = influenced by neoliberal & new right ideas - reducing role of state in provision of education through marketisation & privatisation.
Encourage excellence, competition & innovation by freeing schools from state.

Question 15

Academies

Answer 15

2010 - all schools encourages to leave local authority control & become academies. Funding taken from local authority budges & given to academies by government & academies given control over curriculum.
2012 - over 1/2 secondary schools converted to academies. Removed focus on reducing inequality.

Question 16

Free schools

Answer 16

Schools set up & run by parents, teachers, faith organisations or businesses rather than local authority.
Improve educational standards by taking control away from state & giving power to parents. It gives them opportunity to create new schools if unhappy with state schools in local area.

Question 17

Fragmented centralisation

Answer 17

Ball - promoting academies & free schools = increased fragmentation & centralisation of control over educational provision.

• fragmentation = comprehensive system is being replaced by patchwork of diverse provision involving private providers that leads to greater inequality in opportunity.
• centralisation of control = central government has power to allow or require schools to become academies or free schools to be set up. These are funded directly by central government. Rapid growth has greatly reduced til of elected local authorities in education.

Question 18

Coalition policies & inequality

Answer 18

Aimed to reduce inequity through policies:
- free school meals = for all children in reception, yr 1 & 2.
- pupil premium = money that schools receive for each pupil from disadvantaged background.
EMA abolishes & uni fees 3x to £9000 a year.
Cutting sure start & EMA = reduced opportunities for wc pupils & increases uni fees discourage them from entering higher education.

Question 19

Privatisation of education

Answer 19

Transfer of public assets - schools to private companies. Trend towards privatisation of imposts aspects of education. Education becomes source of profit for capitalists = education services industry - Ball.

Question 20

Blurring the public/private boundary

Answer 20

Senior officials in public sector - directors of local authorities & head teachers now leave to set up or work for private sector education businesses. Companies bid for contracts to provide services to schools.

Question 21

Privatisation & globalisation of education policy

Answer 21

Private companies in education services industry are foreign owned. Exam board Edexcel = leaned but US educational publishing & Pearson.
Ball - some Pearson GCSE exam answers marked in Sydney & Iowa.
Nation states becoming less important in policy making which is shifting to global level & privatised.

Question 22

The cola-isation of schools

Answer 22

Private sector also penetrating education indirectly - through vending machines & development of brand loyalty through displays of logos & sponsorships = cola-isation of schools.
Schools are product endorsement.

Question 23

Education as commodity

Answer 23

Ball - fundamental change is taking place in which privatisation is becoming key factor shaking educational policy. Policy is increasingly focuses on moving educational services out of public sector controlled by nation state to be provided by probated companies. Education is turning into legitimate object of private profit making, commodity to be bought & sold in education market.
Privatisation= state is losing its role as provider of educational services.

Question 24

Policies on gender & ethnicity

Answer 24

Policies have impact on other differences in achievement.

Question 25

Gender

Answer 25

19th century - girls excluded from higher education. Now under tripartite system girls achieve higher marks in 11+ to get grammar school place.
Since 70s policies - GIST introduced to reduce gender differences in subject choice.

Question 26

Ethnicity

Answer 26

Policies aimed at raising achievements of children from minority ethnic backgrounds gone through phases:

• assimilation = policies in 60s & 70s focused on needs for pupils from minorities to assimilate into mainstream British culture for raising achievement.
• multicultural education = policies through 80s & 90s aimed to promote achievements of children from minorities by valuing all cultures in school curriculum & raising minorities self esteem & achievements.
• social inclusion = of pupils from minorities & policies to raise achievement became focus in late 90s: detailed monitoring of exam results by ethnicity.