Policies Flashcards
Education Reform Act 1988
Introduced:
- Marketisation
- Parentocracy
- OFSTED
- National Curriculum
Tripartite System 1944
Introduced 3 types schools: grammar, technical + modern
Used 11+ allocate children to each
All 3 = meant to be equal (parity of esteem)
Comprehensive Schools 1965
Create ‘one size fits all’ education
Giving everyone same Ed
System = meant allow everyone chance to succeed
Free Schools 2011
Inspired by Swedish free schools
= run by parents
The then education minister Gove introduced these in UK
GIST, WISE 1980s
Designed to encourage women into science + technology related to education + careers
Tuition Fees Increased 2012
Universities in England = able charge tuition fees up to £9,000 per year
The Wolf Report 2011
Investigated vocational Ed
Very critical of existing courses
Claiming vocational Ed doesn’t lead to jobs + uni
EMA Cut 2010
Educational Maintenance Allowance
Designed to help poorer children aged 16-18 with costs of staying in Ed
Changing the A-Level System
Reintroducing 2 year courses
Cutting many non-traditional subjects
Sure Start 1999
Range of programmes + support services
Designed tackle cultural deprivation
Excellence in Cities 1999
Replaced prior policy of Education Action Zones (EAZ)
Form of compensatory Ed policy
Targeted @ deprived inner-city areas
Particularly focus = raising aspirations for boys + wc
The Prevent Strategy 2011
Created by New Labour
Rewritten by coalition Government to challenge religious extremism + prevent radicalisation of young people
Cuts to Education Budget 2015
Conservative G = cutting the education budget by 7-12%
As part of the austerity measures
What happened as a result of International League Tables (2013)?
PISA show that UK = ranked 23rd in the world
Caused education minister at time (Gove) to adopt new policies designed to drive up standards
Are all of the polices created equal?
NO!
e.g. increase in tuition fees, EMA cuts etc.
Comprehensive Schooling 1965
Labour instructed all local authorities to introduce comprehensive schools
Intention of giving wc children easier access to better Ed. + chance to move onto higher ed (uni)
Accept all students, regardless of ability
Help promote social justice and tolerance; all educated under 1 roof
Vocational Education
1980/83
Learning directly related to employment
Introduced within Tripartite system
Successive recent British gGs have made attempts to promote + expand it
e.g. BTEC, Modern Apprenticeships etc.
CONSERVATIVE G LOVE IT - NOT RELYING ON STATE!
What is the New Rights most influential education policy?
Education Reform Act 1988
What does the ERA 1988 include? (4)
League tables - exam results visible, parents become more like consumers. Idea was to make the best schools compete to get the best results (drive up standards)
OFSTED - results publishes, allowing parent to judge and make choices as to where to send their children.
National Curriculum - decided by the central government. Introduced coursework, compulsory to take maths, science and English until the age of 16.
Parental Choice - parents don’t have to send their children to the local school
What is OFSTED?
G funded system
Measures success of schools + other educational settings
Includes publication of results
Enabling parents to judge the success of a school + make choice about where to send children
What does GIST and WISE stand for?
Girls Into Science and Technology
Women into Science and Engineering
What is marketisation?
Running school like a business
Education becomes like a market place - parents + students = consumers
Introduced by ERA 1988 (New Right)
However its basic aims = continued by New Labour + particularly by coalition G + Conservative G today
What are the 3 basic principles of marketisation?
- Parental choice
- Making schools more competitive
- The funding formula
What is parental choice?
Offering parents more choices about where to send their children
No longer automatically have to send their child to their local school, leading to parentocracy
What did Gewirtz (1995) discover about parental choice?
She carried out research to see if it benefits mc/wc more
Found: widens gap between wc + mc in terms of achievement
Studied 14 London schools, used 2ndary data (school documents)
Used Bourdieu’s idea of cultural + economic capital
- argues mc parents use capital to take greater advantage of parental choice than wc
Concluded = 3 types of parents: privileged skilled choosers, disconnected local choosers, semi-skilled choosers.
What did Gewirtz say where ‘Privileged skilled choosers’?
mc ambitious parents using their cultural + economic capital
What did Gewirtz say where ‘Disconnected local choosers’?
wc parents whose choices = restricted by their lack of economic + cultural capital
What did Gewirtz say where ‘semi-skilled choosers’?
Mainly wc but ambitious parents
What was the aim of League Tables?
Basic aim = to drive up standards in schools, and the New Right thought this was possible by making results (etc.) more available in the public domain.
What was the effect of League Tables?
Good schools attract more mc parents and their children. Deprived schools end up full of less successful wc pupils - creating a ‘sink school’ situation.
Very good schools or very weak/failing schools therefore reproducing inequality (Ball 1994).
What is the Funding Formula?
Schools allocated funds based on how many pupils they attract, so popular schools do better and can afford more highly qualified teachers and more resources.
On the other hand, less popular schools lose income and can’t afford as many skilled teachers/ resources.
This widens the gap between successful and sink schools.
What did Tony Blair state in 1997 that his priorities were?
‘Education, education, education’.
Name a few policies that were introduced by Tony Blair.
Academies, Free childcare for every preschool child, Sure start, Excellence in Cities, Stricter OFSTED guidance on improving failing schools
What were academies aimed to tackle?
Under-performing schools.
What does Whitty (2002) say about Labour policies?
Some of their policies are ineffective and just provide the illusion of equality without actually reducing class inequalities.
Whitty identified a conflict between policies to tackle inequality and the development of marketisation.
e.g. EMA may have encouraged wc students to stay on until they’re 18, tuition fees for higher education may deter the from going to university.
What changes did the Coalition Government 2010-2015 make to the Labour policies and the consequences of these?
- EMA cuts: less people go to college
- Introduced people premium: everyone gets the same, wc don’t feel as marginalised
- Increased tuition fees: less wc can go to university and it’s more competitive
- Introduction of free schools: benefits the mc, widens the gap between good/bad schools and the class gap.
- No January resists for AS/A levels: makes them harder.
- Only British authors to be taught at GCSE Eng Lit.: Promoting British values
What do Functionalists think of educational policies?
They benefit the individual and society.
They argue that policies are there to create a meritocratic education system, meaning that all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed.
Evaluate the Functionalist’s view on educational policies.
There are persistent inequalities in result between different groups, which suggest that educational policies do not result in a meritocratic education system.
What does the New Right think of educational policies?
They believe in educational policies which enable marketisation in education, selective schooling, increased parental choice and a focus on traditional style of learning.
They don’t like the Left Wing policies.
Evaluate the New Right’s view on educational policies.
Such policies are criticised for creating greater inequalities and benefiting the mc.
What do Marxists think of educational policies?
They would argue that any of the mainstream political parties support the capitalist economy and ideology.
They would argue that the education and the people creating educational policies are rc and therefore policies benefit the rc and maintain wc underachievement.
Evaluate the Marxist’s view on educational achievement policies.
There are policies specifically targeting the poor and underachieving e.g. compensatory education, which challenges
Under what party did the Tripartite system 1944 develop further under?
Conservative G (1951-1964) BUT actively discouraged by Labour G after
What did the Tripartite system increase?
Class differences
When was the Tripartite system abolished?
1976
Replaced by comprehensive system
BUT Grammar school still exists
When was EMA cut?
2010
What was EMA designed to do?
Help poorer children aged 16-18 with costs of staying in Ed
What was Sure Start designed to tackle?
Cultural deprivation
What replaced the Education Action Zone (EAZ) policy?
Excellence in cities 1999
What was the excellence in city policy target at?
Targeted at deprived inner city areas
Particularly focused on raising aspirations of wc + boys
Raising Boys Achievement Project
Involved trailing range of teaching strategies to try help boys
e.g. single-sex teaching
Aimed to overcome feminisation of education, however, could encourage ‘Laddish’ sub culture
Education Act 2011
Michale Gove made significant changes to GCSEs + A-Levels
e.g. reducing coursework, making education more fact-based
