the new right/neoliberal perspective on education

Question 1

what is neoliberalism

Answer 1

a set of economic ideas based around policies that support:
- free market (not government involved = competition)
- consumer consumption
-privatisation
- low government interference
- reduced public spending

Question 2

what is the new right?

Answer 2

• a conservative political view that incorporates neoliberal economic ideas
• big influence on educational policy in the uk

Question 3

what is the new right perspective on education?

Answer 3

• similarities to functionalism
• should run on meritocracy
• should prepare young people for work
• should teach shared values (e.g. competition and instil a sense of national identity)

Question 4

what do neoliberals/new right sociologists believe is the role of education?

Answer 4

• education should enable the UK to compete in the global marketplace
• schools should be managed more like a business

-parents/pupils have power to choose (be more like consumers) = parentocracy

• driving up competition between schools will drive up standards (and produce a better workforce)

Question 5

what are the new right opinions on state schools?

Answer 5

• parents had little, or no say
• do not meet the needs of local employers
  -state schools waste money and are inefficient
• most schools were comprehensive - very little competition to drive up standards and people of any ability could go

this results in:
-lower standards of education
-less qualified workforce
-less prosperous economy

Question 6

how did new right/neoliberals believe they could improve British schools?

Answer 6

the ‘marketisation’ of education
- increased competition will drive up standards
- increase choice and diversity to the consumer

Question 7

who were Chubb & Moe: consumer choice

Answer 7

• new right researchers Chubb & Moe compared the achievements of 60,000 pupils from low-income families in state and private schools
• students from low-income families do better in private schools than state schools
• private schools do better because they are answerable to the fee-paying customer = parents
• they propose a system whereby families are given vouchers to spend on buying an education of their choice

Question 8

A03: evaluation of new right ideas

Answer 8

• competition will always benefit the middle class who can use their money and cultural advantages to get into the best schools
• social inequality is not about state education but about inadequate funding of state schools
• marxists say that education does not impose a shared culture but the culture of the dominant ruling class