Social Policy In Education Flashcards
History of educational policy in the UK
- 1880 education made compulsory for 5-13 year olds
- 1944 education act- the tripartite system was introduced meaning children were sent to one of three types of schools (grammar schools, secondary modern schools, technical schools)
Comprehensive system
-Introduced by the Labour government in 1965
-aimed to make education more meritocratic
- LEA abolished 11+ and replace grammar and secondary moderns with comprehensive schools that all students would attend
1979-1997: Conservative government (free market model)
- New Right believe state-run services are ineffective and companies should have to compete for business
- focus on the three Cs: consumer, choice, competition which they believe will result in greater efficient and standards will improve as institutions will fight to become the most successful
-marketisation is the process of bringing market forces into education to increase competition and raise standards for consumers
Conservative educational policies- Education Reform Act 1988 (National Curriculum)
- to improve standards
- all students has access to the same high quality curriculum covering a wide range of subjects
- compared on a national scale
- everyone gets the same education
- creates a direct comparison of schools
Conservative educational policies- Education Reform Act 1988 (SATS)
- attainment targets- goals which teachers are expected to enable students to reach
- formal teacher assessments and results are published
- promotes competition and consumerism as results are published so schools will want the best results
Conservative educational policies- Education Reform Act 1988 (Exam league tables and published Ofsted inspections)
- publication of performance tables allows parents to know about comparative school performance
- published inspections for ofsted aimed to ensure that schools and colleges weee doing a good job and reports are published
- competition and choice= schools want best reports, parents want their children to go to high achieving schools
Conservative educational policies- Education Reform Act 1988 (Formula funding and open enrolment)
-schools and colleges funded based in numbers
-parents are allowed to free choice if schools rather than being allocated
-choice= you choose which school you go to, schools want more students to attend
Evaluation of conservative marketisation policies - Gewirtz
Gewirtz studied the effects of educational reforms introduced by the conservatives, recognised 3 categories:
1. Privileged or skilled choosers: middle class parents usually privileged or skilled when it came to choosing school for their children and could move to more prosperous areas to ensure they lived within catchment areas and if all else failed they could afford to send children to private education
2. Semi-skilled choosers= mainly working class parents who were ambitious for their children but lacked social network or practical means to get children into particular schools
3. Disconnected or local choosers: working class parents who were disconnected/local choosers as their access to transport played big part in their decision with most working class children being sent to the school closest to their home
Evaluation of conservative marketisation policies- Ball et al
- claimed that ‘parentocracy was a myth’
- very similar to study of Gewirtz
Evaluation of conservative marketisation policies- Bartlett and LeGrand
- see competitive system as resulting in cream-skimming , this is when the most successful schools cherry-pick the most able students from the wealthiest backgrounds
- opposite of this is silt-shifting which is when schools off-load less able pupils or those with learning difficulties as they are expensive to educate and get poor results
- by setting entrance criteria schools are the ones with the choice of consumer, not the other way round
1997-2010: New Labour government
- became known as the third way as it combined elements of the traditional socialist values of social equality and equality of opportunity with a New Right marketisation approach
- aim higher (widening participation)- promotes social mobility by providing access to higher education from disadvantaged backgrounds
- EMA (education maintenance allowance) given to 16-19 year olds to encourage children into higher education
- student loans for university
- educational action zones- put resources / money into deprived areas
- specialist school status- encourages schools to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum
- academies do not follow national curriculum- privately funded academies promote competition between schools
Evaluation of New Labour Educational Policy- Tomlinson
Tomlinson criticised a lot of New Labour policies for two main issues:
1. Reintroducing selection through specialist schools
2. Narrowing the focus of education by putting too much emphasis on target results and league tables
Other sociologists have found other problems with New Labour’s policies
- some view academies as “privatisation of the state system through the back door”
- introducing student fees for higher education, counteracted any good done by widening access to higher education, as cost would put many working class students off studying a degree
2010-2015 coalition government
-composed of members of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat’s
-education secretary Micheal Gove undertook the largest reform of the education system since 1944- international league tables showed the UK was not doing well globally
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Autonomy:
- free schools: type of academy, non-profit making independent state-funded school which is free to attend but not controlled by a local authority, set up by groups like charities, universities, independent schools, community and faith groups
Equality
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Autonomy:
-Academies: publicly funded independent schools, don’t have to follow the national curriculum and can set their own term times, overseen by individual charitable bodies (academy trusts) which provide advice, support, expertise and a strategic overview, control their own admissions process and have more freedom that other schools
Marketisation- run like businesses
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Funding:
-national formula funding for schools- NFF to calculate the amount of core revenue funding that mainstream schools in England will attract in primary and secondary, local authority areas get different amounts of money per pupil in the Schools Block element of the Dedicated Schools Grant, they then draw up their own local funding formulas to share the money out between schools
Equality- local authority areas get different amounts and share money, removing postcode lotteries and improving standards
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Funding:
-post 16 funding cuts- many colleges losing funding for students and so are cutting services and qualifications or closing due to financial issues
Marketisation
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Curriculum:
New national curriculum 5-14 for Sept 2014- slim down content of curriculum in almost all subjects except English, maths and science, concentrate on the essential knowledge and skills every child should have, covers primary pupils 5 to 11 and secondary up to 14
Marketisation- focuses on smaller number of subjects which promoted competition between schools
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Linear GCSEs/ A-levels:
A level content is being revised but the main change comes with new linear exams, all to be taken at the end of the course, AS will no longer count towards the A-level grade and resitting will involve redoing all exams, GCSE has become linear and GCSE subjects will become more challenging, GCSE grades now numbered
Marketisation- focus on results rather than on the pupils
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Vocationalism:
Post 16 funding: programme of study for all post 16 must include some element of work related activities- students need to have work experience as part of their study programme and this must be external
Marketisation- competition for places and middle classes at an advantage
Policies of coalition government (marketisation or equality)
Vocational:
apprenticeships- promoted to improve the skills base of employees, learning takes place through the workplace as well as through formal training, combine work with practical on the job training
Marketisation- sifting and sorting
Equality- more opportunities
2015-2024 conservative government
