Topic 1 - 1988 education reform act

Question 1

What did the act consist of?

Answer 1

• Intro of national curriculum
• Intro of inspection (OFSTED)
• Testing; league tables
• Market forces; competition
• Vocationalism; job based study
• Local management of schools

Question 2

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the national curriculum?

Answer 2

• Strengths
• Every school studying the same thing
• Every child has the same education
• Weaknesses
• Didn’t stretch pupils
• Wasn’t national as private schools don’t use this

Question 3

What is management and inspections?

Answer 3

• Local management of schools; schools have a greater control of their budgets which took away the power away from local government’s
• Office of standards for education (OFSTED); this system was thorough and rigorous and inspections were published

Question 4

What does testing consist of?

Answer 4

• SATS
• Compares achievement across the country
• Important information as it is used for league tables
• Used by the government to see succeeding and failing schools as well as parents who can see this data

Question 5

What are the strengths and weaknesses of testing?

Answer 5

• Weaknesses
• Only shows raw data
• Ignores backround of students
• Doesn’t get the full picture beyond academic achievement
• Strengths
• Lets parents see better schools
• Promotes competition
• Measures changes