Marketisation Polices

Question 1

What is the national curriculum?

Answer 1

Standardising teaching, so it didn’t rely on knowledge/capibilites of individual teachers.

Question 2

What are leauge tables?

Answer 2

Publicly recording which schools were performing well/not.

Question 3

What were the impacts of leauge tables?

Answer 3

• Increased competition.
• Treating parents as consumers.

Question 4

Whats a limitation of leauge tables?

Answer 4

Excluding students who under perform instead of giving the extra support as they don’t want to lower the schools rating.

Question 5

What is the growth of specialist and faith schools?

Answer 5

• Schools applied to specialise in 1/10 categories.
• Only Jewish and Christain schools were funded.

Question 6

What are the limitations of the growth of specialist and faith schools?

Answer 6

• Childern were segregated.
• Teachers were chosen based on religion.

Question 7

What are free schools?

Answer 7

• Locally funded.
• Supported low-income backgrounds.

Question 8

What are academies?

Answer 8

Aimed to give public schools better chocies + standers of school.

Question 9

What are the strengths of marketisation polices?

Answer 9

• Increased choice of schools for parents.
• More private investment in education.
• Rising university attendance.
• Improved GCSE and A-Level pass rates in education.

Question 10

Increased choice of schools for parents:

Answer 10

• Students have more options and access to education than before.

Parents can now choose from private schools, academies, faith schools, and free schools for their children.

Question 11

More private investment in educatation:

Answer 11

More funding and better resources, but also means some schools function as businesses.

Question 12

Improved GCSE and A-Level pass rates in education:

Answer 12

More students from wider demographics are scoring highly on their final exams, meaning they have better chances of succeeding in higher education.

Question 13

What are the limitations of marketisation polices?

Answer 13

• Social class and myth of parentocracy.
• Deregulation and lack of qualifications in education.
• Selective enrolment in education.

Question 14

Social class and myth of parentocracy:

Answer 14

• Parentocracy has not been the reality for all groups in society - educational options are still dictated by social class.
• Working-class parents are ‘disconnected choosers’ as they often lack these forms of social capital. Also, schools will often only take students from certain catchment areas. With the best schools being in the wealthiest areas, working-class students can be disadvantaged.

Question 15

What did Ball suggest was a limitation of marketiation? (social class)

Answer 15

Middle class has largely benefitted from policies of choice and competition.

Their social capitalallows them to use their networks for support (e.g. writing a good personal statement).

Ball calls these middle-class parents ‘skilled choosers’.

Question 16

Deregulation and lack of qualifications in education:

Answer 16

Whitty argues the changes brought in by academies and free schools e.g. the ability to hire teachers who have no teacher-training qualifications, will actually contribute to the deregulation of the profession.

• Traditional route to becoming a teacher - going to school and attaining good grades before gaining a teaching qualification at university is being distorted with alternative routes.

Question 17

Selective enrolment in education:

Answer 17

• Schools can now be selective in their enrolment, meaning that many students will now be excluded.
• Admissions could solely focus on academic criteria, they are likely also to include interviews and extra admissions tests, adding pressure.