Marketisation Flashcards
what is marketisation
This refers to the process of introducing marker forces of consumer choice and competition into areas run by the state like education
what act introduced marketisation
The Education Reform Act 1988
how did the ERA introduce marketisation
It introduced market forces into the education system by reducing government control over education and increasing competition between schools and colleges. Making schools service providers and students consumers and giving parents more choices of school. Labour government followed suits emphasising standards, diversity and choice, the coalition government took it further by creating academies and free schools
Features of the ERA
- Education should link to the economy by providing more vocational courses and work placements
- Brought about better standards in education through the introduction of the National Curriculum which provided compulsory subjects like English, Maths and Science
- OFTSED Inspections
- Schools being allowed to opt out of local authority and they could get money straight from the government
- It provided more competition through open enrolment
- Allowed parents to choose which school to send their child to if the school has a place
- Introduction of league tables making schools advertise for students
- Provided more exams and placed results on league tables
parentocracy
David describes marketised education as a parentocracy which means rule by parents. In an education market, power is taken away from teachers and given to parents, parents can decide which schools to send their child to and the system must conform to parents’ wishes rather than the child’s abilities. For example, the publication of league tables and OFSTED reports that rank schools according to their exam performance gives parents the information they need to choose the right school. This encourages diversity among schools, gives parents more choices and raises standards
3 ways in which marketisation has led to inequality
Cream Skimming and Silt Shifting
Formula Funding
Parental Choice
cream skimming and silt shifting
Due to the publication of each school’s exam results on league tables, schools that achieve good results are more in demand, because parents are attracted to those with good league table rankings. According to Bartlett this encourages these schools who tend to be in affluent areas to implement the following - cream skimming - selecting higher ability mostly MC pupils who are more likely to succeed. Silt-Shifting - turn away pupils who are more likely to get poor results and damage the schools league table position. Good schools can be more selective of who they enrol and who they turn away. Those with poor league table positions cannot afford to be selective and have to less able mainly WC pupils, so their results are poorer and they remain unattractive to M/C parents. League tables produce unequal schools that reproduce class inequalities.
formula funding
Schools are allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they attract. As a result, popular schools get more funds and so can afford better-qualified teachers and better facilities. Their popularity allows them to be more selective and attract more able or ambitious MC applicants. On the other hand, unpopular schools lose income and find it difficult to match the teaching skills and facilities of other schools. Popular schools with good results and MC pupils thrive, unpopular schools fail to attract pupils and their funding is reduced. A study by the Institute for public policy research found that Britians’s education system is competition oriented and this produced more segregation between social classes, it creates inequalities between schools and furthers the educational class divide.
parental choice
By increasing parental choice marketisation advantages middle-class parents whose economic and cultural capital puts them in a better position to choose ‘good’ schools for their children
sociologist behind parental choice
Gertwitz
what did gertwizt find
Gerwitz found that differences in parents’ economic and cultural capital leads to class differences in parents in how far they can exercise choice of secondary schools.
what does Gertwitz identity
She identified 3 main types of parents
Privileged Skilled Choosers - professional MC parents who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children, their cultural capital meant that they knew how schools admissions systems work and their economic capital also meant that they could afford to move their children around the education system to better catchment areas for example by paying extra travel costs so that their children could attend schools out of their area.
Disconnected Local Choosers - WC parents whose choices were restricted by their lack of economic and cultural capital, they found it difficult to understand schools admissions procedures, their funds were limited and they could only afford to send their children to the nearest school
Semi-skilled choosers - Mainly WC but unlike the above they were ambitious for their children but they lacked cultural capital and couldn’t make sense of the education market
what does Gertwitz conclude
Gerwitz concludes that although in theory the education marker gives everyone greater choice in practice MC parents posses cultural and economic capital and have more choice than WC parents
evaluations
Ball and Whitty - Marketisation Policies produce inequality between schools
Ball argues that marketisation creates and legitimises inequality by making inequality appear fair and inevitable
He argues that parentocracy is a myth it makes it appear that all parents have a choice when they infact don’t
new labour and inequality
Tony Blair wanted Labour to address equality of opportunity in education and reduce inequality.
1. Deprived areas would be identified as Education Action Zones and sent further resources.
2. Aim Higher programmes encourage underrepresented social classes, gender and ethnicities to go to universities.
3. EMA would be given to low-income students staying in education after 16.
4. City academies were created for struggling WC students.
5. Increased funding for state education
