June Test Education Flashcards
Marketisation
A form of privatisation, privatising the school system making it behave like a business. (e.g. league tables). Began due to the 1988 Education Reform Act. The process of introducing market forces of consumer choice. originally proposed by Chubb and Moe, new right theorists
Marketisation following features:
Independence - schools and colleges controlling their own affairs and running like a private business.
Competition - schools competing with one another for pupils (customers)
Choice - ‘parent power’ decides a child’s education. parents and student - the consumers of education - are given a choice of schools and colleges, rather than these decisions being made by state / council authorities
Marketisation Is Backed By Quality Control Through:
school and college inspections by Ofsted.
a national curriculum or government-approved subjects
testing, and the publication of performance tables, ‘league tables’ to help identify the best and weakest schools
Government Policies on Marketisation & Raising Standards : Conservative Government 1979-1997
local management of schools - management moved to governors and headteachers, and away from local authorities.
Formula funding - money allocated according to the number of pupils
Parental choice and open enrolment (any school vacancies had to accept any pupil until they were full)
National curriculum national testing (SATs)
Ofsted Established
School performance tables - league tables
Labour Government Policies on marketisation and raising standards:
More money for schools, more nursery education and smaller primary school classes.
Education Action Zones and academies in the more disadvantaged areas
Education Maintenance allowances
Specialist Schools - all secondary schools encouraged to adopt a specialist subject area
Conservative - liberal democrat coalition government government on marketisation and raising standards:
more academies - most secondary schools are now independent academies
free schools
pupil premium (extra money for most disadvantaged pupils)
Cultural Deprivation : Bernstien
Speech Codes - Differences in speech codes put working-class children at a disadvantage because the elaborated code is used by teachers, textbooks and exams. Early socialisation into the elaborated code means that middle-class pupils are already at an advantage.
Cultural Deprivation : Douglas
Parents’ Education - Working-class parents place less value on education; they are less ambitious for their children and give them less encouragement to participate in educational activities, such as homework. As a result of this, many working-class parents do not attend parents evening.
Cultural Deprivation : Sugarman
Working-class Subcultures - Sugarmann identifies 4 key acts that act as a barrier to educational achievement for working class pupils:
Fatalism- there’s nothing you can do to change your status
Collectivism - valuing being part of a group more than being an individual
Immediate gratification- seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future
Present time orientation- seeing the present as more important than the future, therefore having no long-term goals
Cultural Capital : Bourdieu
Middle-class children with cultural capital are better equipped to meet the demands on the school curriculum. Parents can convert the cultural capital into economic capital, for example, they can send their children to private schools.
Material Deprivation : Housing
Poor housing can affect a pupils achievement directly and indirectly: (Douglus found a link between bad housing and educational achievement)
Overcrowding means there is no room for educational activities, such as homework and reading. It also means disturbed sleep from sharing bedrooms.
Families living in temp accommodation may find themselves having to move frequently, leading to disturbed education
Overcrowded homes mean greater risk of accidents and a higher risk of getting ill. This may lead to absence from school
Material Deprivation : Diet & Health
Young people from poorer homes have lower intakes of energy, vitamins and minerals. Poor nutrition affects health, for example, by weakening the child’s immune system- this may result in more absences from school (Howard).
JFR link between material deprivation
- A strong link between material deprivation and lower educational achievement
- Children from poorer families were less likely to have access to computers & the internet
- Children from poorer families were least likely to be able to afford private tuition
Ethnic external factors : linguistic factors
Some pupils speak a different language and some pupils speak an informal version of English. Bereiter and Engelmann state that the black Caribbean language is ungrammatical and disjointed, which means they cannot convey abstract ideas.
Ethnic external factors : Family Structure
There are higher rates of lone-parent families in black ethnicities. Moynihan found that many black families are headed by a lone mother, leading to lower achievement of black boys due to how they do not have a male role model.
Ethnic external factors : attitudes
Some sociologists argue that some black pupils have a fatalistic outlook on life, meaning they want immediate gratification and have limited motivation to achieve in the long term
Ethnic external factors : material deprivation
Many minority ethnic groups are victims of racism in wider society, subsequently they face direct or indirect discrimination at work or in the housing market, and in turn, they may be in low paid jobs or unemployed. This impacts upon the children’s educational opportunities.
Girl - external factors - impact of feminism
McRobbie studied girls magazines and found that in the 1970s, they emphasised the importance of getting married. However, nowadays, they contain images of strong, assertive and independent women.
Feminists have campaigned for women’s rights and changes in the law (eg. equal rights)
girl - external factors - employment changes
Changes in the law have improved the position of working women, for example the Equal Pay Act (1970) and the Sex Discrimination Act (1975).
girl -external factors - changing ambitions
Sharpe interviewed girls and found that their ambitions in the 1970s were to marry and have children, and saw their future in terms of a domestic role. However, in the 1990s, the girls priorities had changed to careers and wanting to be independent.
boys - external factors - boys literacy
Parents spend less time reading to sons because it is seen as a ‘feminine’ activity.
Boys leisure interests do not encourage language and communication skills, whereas girls ‘bedroom culture’ does.
boys -external factors - decline in manual labour
Globalisation had led to the decline in heavy industries (eg. shipbuilding, mining and manufacturing) in the UK. This has led to a male ‘identity crisis’, giving them little motivation to get qualifications for a job
