Introduction Part One

Question 1

Conservative take on education includes what two elements?

Answer 1

Centralization and Devolution

Question 2

Why was the Education Reform Act on 1988 Important?

Answer 2

1. Served to weaken the welfare state
2. Created fragmented centralization system (schools lose control of curriculum but gain financial/mgnmt) autonomy
3. Displaced LEAs as policy actors

Question 3

What is the New Labour (1997-2010) stance on education and how can the party’s policy reform be described?

Answer 3

“What works” approach

Modernization

Tony Blair “What matters is what works”

Question 4

What is Endogenous Competition and what party aimed to implement it?

Answer 4

Makes school and unis more business like (competition
among schools/parent choice)
Conservative (1979-97)

Question 5

What is Exogenous Contestability and which party aimed to implement it?

Answer 5

Introduces actors/competitors (businesses) from outside the education sphere to supplement where schools failed (Ed-Business/Outsourcing)

Question 6

What are three major policies of New Labour (1979-97)?

Answer 6

1. Exogenous contestability
2. Introduced new discourses on leadership from biz mngmt sources
3. Introduced edu benchmarks and the redistribution of funds based on performance

Question 7

What did the Conservative and NL parties agree on?

Answer 7

Discourse of derision
and the need to wrest the monopoly over edu sector from the hands of the public sector

Question 8

What are the six traits of the Coalition Gov (2010-15)?

Answer 8

1. Emphasized content alongside structure
2. Distrust and surveillance of teachers
3. Shift to “real subjects” (Gove)
4. Focus on patriotic history (bring back times tables and focus on English lit; dropped To Kill a Mockingbird from GSCE)
5. Poor pupil behavior as a policy issue
6. Crit poor parenting and called for more discipline in schools

Question 9

What was the Coalitions double headed policy reform?

Answer 9

1. A return to pre-1944 edu policy “good and proper edu system”
2. Schools should act like biz and market themselves (strong state and liberal, free-market econ)

Question 10

What are the hallmarks of a “good and proper edu system” according to Coalition (2010-2015)?

Answer 10

1. O-Levels
2. Academic/Vocational Split
   3.Trust in teachers
   4.Physical discipline