New Right View on Education Flashcards
Define Marketisation
The process whereby educational institutions has been increasingly subjected to competition and encouraged to behave more like private businesses.
Define Neoliberalism
A political ideology which advocates that the state should intervene in society and the economy as little as possible and leave the running of society to Market forces
Define Education market
A term used to describe the situation resulting from educational policies which encourage schools to compete like private businesses.
Define Academic education
The teaching of academic subjects for the purpose of exams.
Define Vocational education
Education that focuses on developing skills which are directly relevant to the world of work.
In the 1980s what did the New right argue about schools
They argued that there was too much state interference in control over schools and that consequently a lot of government expenditure was wasteful and or inefficient. As a result the provision of educational services especially subsidiary Services such as cleaning and catering went out to a private tender.
When were the New right influential over the government and what did they do
In the 1980s and it led to more power being given to parents to choose schools for their children, more power over spending being given to individual schools and a reduction in power of the local authorities.
What do New right sociologists believe about the link between schools in the education market
They believe that competition between schools in the education market will drive up the overall standard of education and reduce costs as well as improving choices available to parent-consumers
What do some New right believe the the British government has done and what do they argue
They have emphasised academic education at the expense of vocational education.
They have argued that the schools have failed to educate students with the right skills and attitudes required for the workplace and have recommended schools to work closely with businesses to provide education that involves work placement etc.
What is a criticism about Marketisation
Suggests that educational markets are unfair because highly educated parents are more likely to have greater knowledge of choices available (cultural capital). They are more likely to know the ‘right’ people. They are able to spend money for their children to go to elite top schools.
In contrast, working class parents are less able to make informed choices as they lack these forms of capital.
What schools are often over subscribed
High achieving schools
What is a criticism about the high achieving schools and parental choice
Parental choice with regard to these schools may be less influential than the schools own selection policies.
There is some evidence that schools prefer to choose middle-class children because their parents have economic and cultural capital to support their children.
What do critics point out about the middle-class being chosen for places in schools over the working-class
The middle-class parents and pupils have benefited the most from marketisation and consequently New right changes to the education system may have widened class inequalities in achievement.
What is the danger between schools in an education marketplace
That it will narrow the aims of education. Such schools may become ‘exam factories’ aimed at academic pupils and may exclude those with special needs or not select those with ‘average’ abilities.
What does sociologist Ball criticise
He criticises the marketisation of education because it has led to a coherent system of state education being replaced by a haphazard patchwork of academies, free schools and faith schools, providing an uneven and unequal standard of education.
