Policies Flashcards
Pupil premium
Funding to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in schools in England
When and which government introduced pupil premium
Introduced in 2011
Brought in my Liberal Democrat government
What does Pupil premium do
An ongoing system with aims to improve outcome of pupils who are at a educational disadvantage
Criticism of pupil premium
It cannot be ensured that the money is being spent effectively
Sure start
An area based programme to deliver services and support young children and families
When and who introduced sure start
Flagship labour policy
Announced in parliament in 1988 launched in 1999
Criticisms of sure start
Spendings have been cut by 2/3rds and 500 centres have closed the programme is still running
Education maintenance allowance
Education maintainance allowance (EMA) gives financial support to eligible 16 to 19 year olds who want to continue learning
When and who introduced education maintenance allowance
Introduced by the Labour Party in 1988 and nationally rolled out in September 2004
Now closed in England
Education action zones
Aims to develop and raise education standards in disadvantaged areas
Who introduced education action zones
Introduced by the 1998 labour government
Free school meals
Schools receive £1345 for every primary aged pupil and £995 for every secondary age pupil who claim free school meals
Policies of equality of gender of opportunity gender
Girls into science and technology
Introduced in the early 1980s to try and address gender differences in subject choice and encourage more girls to choose sciences at school
Women in science and engineering (WISE)
Established in 1984
Introduced by Margaret Thatcher
Aimed to reduce the tendency for girls and women to avoid stem subjects
A criticism of this programme could be positive discrimination
Reduction of coursework in GCSE and Alevel exams
Promoted to remove coursework as a concern of plagiarism
Significant impact on the gender gap in education and could end up disadvantaging girls
Education policies 1979 - 1997
1988 education reform act
Introduced a national curriculum in England and Wales
Brought in a system of national assessment
Schools could opt out
Open enrolment
Formula funding
Vocational education initiatives
Introduction of the national curriculum
There were no way of comparing schools performances except my external exams
Left pupils who moved schools at a disadvantage
Political desire to define the key subject areas and knowledge that a student should study
Central government wanted to take control of the school curriculum
How has local authority control over schools been weakened
Schools could opt out of local authority control and could be funded directly by the government (abolished in 1999)
Local management of schools gave schools greater control over their budget And reduced local authority control of individual support
Reducing the proportion of school governors appointed by the LEAs
1992 education act
Further education colleges were made independent of LEA control
School curriculum and assessment authority established to oversee the examination system
The government could take over the running of failing schools
Schools required to publish their league tables
Regular OFSTED visits
Schools allowed to specialise
Open enrolment
Schools had to compete with each other for pupils
Parents became customers who could ‘buy education’
Before these changes schools had catchment areas and it was difficult for parents to send their children elsewhere
National testing
Every pupil is externally examined several times in his or her school career allowing for the schools too be compared
Before national testing there was a lack of any common form of measurement meaning there was no way to compare performance of different schools
The creation of new types of schools
Grants maintained,CTCs, technology college status
Open enrolment
Gave parents the right to send their children to the school of their choice (although this is limited in reality by availability of places)
The decision for a school to ‘opt out’
Of LEA control was given to parents or pupils at that school.The local community was therefore given the opportunity to give their local school grant maintained status
National testing and league tables
Of exam results truancy rates etc gave parents the information about school performance on which to base their choice of school
Criticisms of the system of national testing
The system only gives raw scores for pupils and schools and does not take into account the different socio-economic characteristics of school intake
There is too much testing of pupils and it begins far too early in their school careers.Tests at age 7 and assessments at the point of entry into compulsory education may label some children as failures even before they have had a chance to learn
Not all subjects are covered by these tests penalising children who have greater ability in technology or humanities
Criticisms of the national curriculum
The national curriculum us not really a national curriculum.it does not have to be taught in independent schools and it is different in Scotland and Northern Ireland academies can adjust
Minority subjects such as drama.arts music are usually forced to compete with each other for time
The creation of a national curriculum opens up the possibility of political interference in what is taught in schools
The national curriculum is still strongly academic in content not suitable for all students
Criticisms of league tables
League tables do not take into account the social composition of the schools intake One of the main uses of league tables is to compare the apparent performance of different schools. Unfair to compare the performance of schools with different socio economic intakes,a school in a deprived area may appear to be performing poorly because it is generating lower exam results then a near by school with more middle class students
Statistics in league tables are not always accurate
Attendance figures can be manipulated to show a reduction in the level of truancy whilst exam results are sometimes challenged by schools or pupils but any change is usually not available in time for the ‘league table’ figures to be amended
Criticisms of changes
Good exam results = over subscribed school,attracting more able pupils,even better results other schools lose pupils,lose finance as a result is the separation of schools into ‘star’ and ‘sink’ schools in a particular area. Old grammar school/ secondary modern divide
Only a few CTCs were created so the vast majority of parents did not have the opportunity to send their children to a CTC
Some CTCs and GM schools operated systems of selection via examinations SATS results and interviews
Middle class children have benefited most as their parents can play the system
Miriam David (1993)
Describes Marketised education as a parentocracy
Parentocracy
Parentocracy is a term used to refer to the idea that the parents are in change of the education system. It refers particularly to the marketisation policies of 1988 and subsequently which aimed to give parents significantly more choice over their children’s education.
Stephen Ball 1994 Geoff Whitty 1998
Note how policies such as exam league tables and formula funding reproduce inequalities amongst schools
Will Bartlett 1993
Notes that parent attraction to good league table ranking encourages cream skimming and silt shifting
Sharan Gerwitz 1995
Study of how far parents can exercise choice of secondary school
PISA
Program for international student assessment that measures 15 year old students reading mathematics and science literacy every 3 years
TIMMs
Monitored trends in mathematics and science achievement every four years
PIRLS
Progress in international reading literacy study
