Social Policy 1870 - 2021 Flashcards

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1
Q

1870 Education Act

A

Prior to 1870, access to education was largely based on your social class.

The 1870 Education Act tried to ensure some basic education became available to all 5-11 year olds.

Led to the idea that the state should pay for education.

More so than anything it showed a dedication from the government to provide education to all those below the age of 11.

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2
Q

Three types of schools made available by the 1870 Education Act…

A

1) Elementary schools – for the working class up to 14 years old

2) Fee paying grammar schools – working class boys

3) Expensive fee paying schools – upper class

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3
Q

1944 Butler Education Act

A

Created a radically altered education system, creating a state funded secondary sector.

The aim was to improve society based on academic ability.

Free compulsory education until the age 15.

11+ exams were introduced when students reached the end of primary school.

Introduced the Tripartite system:
> Grammar schools - academic students
> Secondary technical – talent with mechanical or scientific
> Secondary modern – everyone else

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4
Q

11+ exam problematic?…

A

The gendered grading was not the only problematic element of the 11+ exam.

The problem with the tripartite system was the 11+ exam was seen as unfair and inaccurate. The test was clumsy as it couldn’t predict a child’s intellectual development, moreover it disadvantaged children from working-class homes who couldn’t afford any additional tutoring or went to a primary school which wasn’t so committed to feeding grammar schools.

Therefore the children who tended to go to grammar schools were middle-class to upper/middle-class, while lower middle/working-class tended to go to secondary modern schools (very view technical schools were ever built) as well as this problem other criticisms of the tripartite system were identified.

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5
Q

1965 Comprehensive Education Act

A

The Butler Act was based more on social-class as opposed to ‘pure’ intellectual ability the newly elected Labour government of 1965 starting encouraging the growth of a comprehensive school system.

The Labour Party was defeated in 1970 around 30% of schools were comprehensive by the end of that decade around 80% of secondary schools were comprehensive like Twynham and Highcliffe School.

However some local authorities still kept the selection process such as Bournemouth this means children in this area sit an 11+ test for the grammar school. To-date there still remains 165 grammar schools in England and Wales.

The idea of comprehensive schools is there is no selection. The only restrictions are one of where you live; you need to be in a particular catchment area in order to attend a particular school.

By 1986, approx. 90% of secondary schools were comprehensive.

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6
Q

Pros of the 1965 Comprehensive Act…

A

> Abolished the tripartite system

> Social barriers are broken down

> Caters for all abilities and no children are labelled as failures

> Cheaper to fund

> Catchment area

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7
Q

Cons of the 1965 Comprehensive Act…

A

> Limits parental choice

> More able students are held back

> They accept lower standards

> Catchment areas can lead to more social class division

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8
Q

1979 New Vocationalism

A

In a period of rising unemployment and the apparent decline of Britain’s economy, the concern was that education was failing to produce appropriately skilled and motivated young workers. - That it should produce equality of opportunity was deemed less important than the needs of industry. This new emphasis was called New Vocationalism.

New Vocationalism was introduced that focused on ‘practical’ achievement.

> Vocational training
Vocational education

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9
Q

Pros of New Vocationalism…

A

> Offered an alternative route for less academic learners

> Gave hands-on experience

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10
Q

Cons of New Vocationalism…

A

> Reproduced social class inequalities

> Reproduced inequalities between different ethnic groups

> Reinforces gender differences for subjects and jobs

> Seen by Marxists as a form of exploitation for the working class

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11
Q

1988 Education Reform Act

A

Was a major change to the education system. It introduced many policies in order to standardise and measure the success of education.

Including:
> SATs
> The National Curriculum
> League tables
> OFSTED

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12
Q

The National Curriculum and SATs…

A

The national curriculum required that all schools teach the same subject content from the age of 7-16. From 1988 all schools were required to teach the core subjects English, Maths, Science etc at GCSE level. GCSE’s and SAT’s were also introduced as part of the National Curriculum.

The logic behind league tables was that with all schools following the same curriculum it made it easier for parents to compare and choose between schools (parentocracy), and GCSE and SATs meant every student, and more importantly, every school was assessed using the same type of exam.

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13
Q

League tables…

A

The New Right introduced school league tables in which schools were ranked based on their exam performance in SATs, GCSES, and A levels. The tables are published in many newspapers and online. The idea behind league tables was to allow parents to easily assess which schools in their local areas are the best. A bit like “What car?” magazine, but for schools.

The New Right theorised that League tables would force schools to raise standards because no parent would want to send their child to a school at the bottom.

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14
Q

OFSTED…

A

Established in 1988, OFSTED is the government organisation that inspects schools. OFSTED reports are published and underachieving school are shut if they consistently receive bad reports. The aim of OFSTED is to drive up standards. The aim of this policy is to raise standards.

OFSTED raised standards because a poor inspection could result in new management being imposed on underperforming schools.

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15
Q

Marketisation…

A

Refers to aim of making schools compete with one another for government funding i.e. the better a school does the previous year the more money a school receives the following year. This essentially makes schools into “businesses” competing with one another i.e. making an education “market”. Schools that provide parents and pupils with what they want – such as good exam results – will thrive, and those that don’t will go out of business and either close down or be taken over by new management who will run things more efficiently.

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16
Q

Parentocracy…

A

The New Right’s views education and parents as the customers. For marketization to work parents must have a choice of where to send their children. Parental choice directly affects the school budget – every extra pupil means extra money for the school. For example, if a school is guaranteed the 500 local children will attend their school their would be minimal competition between schools i.e. minimal competition for funding the policy won’t work unless parents a choice over which school to send their pupils to! To make this word schools have been required to publish a prospectus which includes their examination and test results since 1988.

17
Q

Changes from 1988-2000…

A

New Labour’s educational policies built upon the 1988 Education Reform Act.

They introduced various education policies:
> School diversity
> Excellence in Cities and Education Action Zones
> 2000 Curriculum and Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA)
> OFSTED can close failing schools
> Abolished grants and introduced student loans for university students

18
Q

Changes from 2010-2015…

A

May 2010 – Coalition government formed between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Main policies include:
> Increase in tuition fees at university
> Removal of EMA
> Introduction of free schools
> Encouraged schools to take academy status
> Introduced the Pupil Premium
> Changes to curriculums, linear model for exams and removing opportunities for re-sits

19
Q

Covid policies…

A

> The covid catch-up and recovery premiums

> Extra funding for the National Tuition programme

> £200 million additional funding for summer schools in summer 2021

> Extra training and support for teachers

> Mental health and well being support

20
Q

The Covid Catch-Up Premium…

A

This was £650 million allocated to schools to help them provide catch up lessons in 2021, including running summer schools.

This amounted to £80 per pupil up to year 11 inclusive, £240 for SEND pupils.

21
Q

The Covid Recovery Premium…

A

This was an additional £350 million for the 2021-2022 academic year for schools delivering ‘evidence based approaches’ to helping students catch up.

This money is supposed to be targeted and economically disadvantaged and SEND pupils.

22
Q

£200 million for summer schools…

A

The aim of the programme is to deliver a short summer school with a blend of academic education and enrichment activities.

Where a school runs a summer school for its incoming year 7, those pupils will have an opportunity to:
> Build a community with fellow pupils
> Forge relationships with new teachers
> Familiarise themselves with their new school environment

23
Q

More money for the National Tutoring programme…

A

An additional £218 million for the National Tutoring Programme which specialises in running additional support classes for small groups of pupils.

The target was for there to be packages of 15 hours extra tuition for the most in-need students on top of all of the extra support.

24
Q

Other measures…

A

Besides the above the government also outlines more training support for teachers, mental health and well being funding and holiday. food clubs.

25
Q

Critiques…

A

There is widespread condemnation among teaching unions and other commentators that £1.4 billion is nowhere near enough money to make up for lost learning. This figure is also pitifully small compared to the amounts being spent on education catch up by other similar European countries.

The UK is spending £50 a head, The Netherlands are spending £2500 a head.

Like with other forms of ‘compensatory education’ these measures are a sticking plaster.

They do nothing to tackle wider inequalities in the UK and which is the root cause of poorer pupils having fallen further behind as a result of the pandemic compared to pupils from wealthier backgrounds.

26
Q

McLuhan’s global village…

A

McLuhan (1962) wrote about the global village.

This is the idea that, through global communications (which have clearly developed a great deal since he was writing!) we have neighbours all around the world.

27
Q

Smaller policies to promote marketisation…

A

> Publication of league tables and Ofsted inspection reports to give parents the information they need to choose the right school.

> Business sponsorship of schools, or what Rikowski calls ‘the business takeover of schools’.

> Formula funding, where schools receive the same amount of funding for each pupil.

> Schools being able to opt-out of LEA control Schools having to compete with each other to attract pupils.

28
Q

Ball and Whitty on marketisation…

A

Ball and Whitty argue that marketisation reproduces and legitimates inequality through exam league tables and the funding formula.

Exam league tables - These ensure that schools that achieve good results are in more demand, because parents are attracted to those with good league table rankings. This allows these schools to be more selective and to recruit high achieving, mainly middle class pupils. As a result, middle class pupils get the best education. The opposite occurs for less successful schools. These are unable to select and tend to be full of less able, mainly working class pupils.

The funding formula - Funding is determined by pupil numbers. The more popular a school is, the higher their funding. These schools can afford to attract better-qualified teachers and better facilities. Unpopular schools lose income and find it difficult to match the teacher skills and facilities of their more successful rivals.

29
Q

Economy…

A

The UKs economy has changed due to globalisation we see jobs exported and in turn a large growth of the public sector this in turn may lead to a reduction in Bowles and Gintis correspondence principle as this is no longer relevant.

The UKs economy is unable to compete with the vast amount of emerging manufacturing economies due to labour expenses, therefore the population needs “reskilling” according to the 1990 labour party when we saw encouragement of school leavers to attend HE.

We consistently rank lower than many countries as you saw in your education projects and therefore must attempt to compete. This leads to policies such as marketisation and parentocracy.

Globalisation has therefore led to the UK expanding its education and taking on best practice from countries globally such as free schools.