Topic 6 - Education policy and inequality Flashcards
Selection: the tripartite system
Introduced 1944 Education Act
Supposedly based on meritocracy
Achieved status through own effort (not ascribed)
Reproduced class inequality
Discriminated against girls
key features of the tripartite system
11+ exam
depending on your result you either go to a
Grammar schools – academic
Secondary moderns – non-academic
Technical schools – skills based
Comprehensivisation
Introduced 1965
To overcome inequality of tripartite
Labour government
School catchment areas introduced rather than selection
Streaming within school – still M/C advantage
Labelling often a feature
Some LEAs retained grammar schools – Conservative areas
Two theories of the role of comprehensives
Functionalist
and
Marxist
functionalist theory of comprehensive
Social integration – all students together
Meritocratic – not selected at an early age, can develop through school
But streaming meant little mixing of social classes
Marxist theory of comprehensions
Marxist
Not meritocratic
Reproduce class inequality – labelling and streaming
Myth of meritocracy – appear to offer equal opportunity, so failure to achieve is blamed on individual.
Introducing the market to education:
Choice
Competition
Reduction of state control
MARKETISATION
Introduced 1988 – Education Reform Act (ERA)
Conservative government – Thatcher (New Right)
Market forces in education
Competition (league tables)
Consumer choice (who can choose?)
Power to parents rather than teachers and schools - parentocracy
Continued by 1997 Labour government
2010 further steps such as academies and free schools
Favoured by New Right as makes schools raise standards to attract ‘customers’ in competition
FEATURES OF MARKETISATION
Publication of exam results & Ofsted reports
Business sponsorship of schools
Open enrolment – no catchment
Specialist schools – to widen parental choice
Funding per pupil – same for all
Can opt out of LEA – become academies
Schools compete to attract pupils
Tuition fees for HE
Parents can set up free schools
REPRODUCTION OF INEQUALITY
through:
League tables
and
Funding formula
League tables
High achieving schools can be more selective
Lower position schools unable to be selective
Cream-skimming and silt-shifting
Funding formula
Better schools: more funding and better teachers and facilities
Unpopular schools: lose income; difficult to match skills
Marketisation criticised by many – Ball and Whitty.
Increased inequality due to benefit mainly to M/C.
GERWIRTZ:
PARENTAL CHOICE
Privileged-skilled choosers
Disconnected-local choosers
Semi-skilled choosers
Middle-class parents advantaged by choice
Privileged-skilled choosers
Professional m/c – possess cultural capital
Disconnected-local choosers
Working class – lack cultural capital
Semi-skilled choosers
Ambitious w/c - limited cultural capital
Middle-class parents advantaged by choice
Linked to their economic and cultural capital
MYTH OF PARENTOCRACY
Marketisation reproduces and legitimates inequality.
Ball: only appears to be choice – cultural capital determines the amount.
Gerwirtz: Middle class can take advantage
Leech and Campos: middle class can afford to move closer to better schools (Topic 1).
Parentocracy appears to make the system fair but is a myth.
NEW LABOUR AND INEQUALITY AIMS
Widening diversity and choice
Raising standards and addressing underachievement
Reforming the post-compulsory sector
New Labour Polices
Education Action Zones – increased funding
Aim Higher
EMA to support low-income students
National Literacy Strategy
Creation of academies where schools failing
Increased funding
CRITICISMS OF NEW LABOUR
Cost of education - EMA to help with FE, But still fees for Higher Education! Labour Paradox
Grammar & fee paying schools - Inequality, New Labour didn’t abolish them
Marketisation - Maintains inequality
Supported by New Labour
WHAT IS MARKETISATION?
Introducing the market to education:
Choice
Competition
Reduction of state control
Choice for schools on who to take and for parents on where to send children.
Coalition government
Joint government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, 2010-15
Influenced by neoliberalism and the New Right – read Box 10 on page 83 for more details on neoliberalism and privatisation
Reduce the role of the state – free schools from ‘dead hand of the state’
Policies since 2010
Academies
not under local authority control
some run by private buisnesses
some run by state control
no focus on reducing inequality
Policies since 2010
Free Schools
Run by parents teachers faith organisations or buisnesses
to overcome problems in the area
critisices as only benefits middle class
Fragmented centralisation
Ball: Free schools and academies:
Fragmentation: diversity of provision
Centralisation: more central government control
Coalition policies and inequality
Some policies to attempt to decrease inequality:
Free school meals for all reception, year one and year two
Pupil premium: extra money for pupils from disadvantaged background
Coalition policies and inequality
Other policies maintained inequality:
Spending cuts:
Buildings
Cuts to Sure Start
EMA abolished
University fees tripled
The privatisation of education
Privatisation – transfer of public assets (schools) to private companies.
This means education is used to make a profit.
Ball: Education services industry
Private companies involved in:
Building schools, supply teachers, work-based learning, careers
Public-private partnerships (PPP)
School buildings
Highly profitable
Companies make more profits on these projects than other contracts.
Privatisation and globalisation
Many globalised companies involved in education, e.g. Edexcel owed by Pearson.
Educational software companies owned by media multinationals.
Also UK policies and initiatives exported.
Cola-isation of schools
Indirect privatisation:
Vending machines
Branded displays
links to purchases, e.g. Tesco computers for schools (£110,000 purchases needed for one PC!)
Education as a commodity
Policy encourages privatisation
‘legitimate object of private profit-making’
Policies on gender
Equal opportunities policies
GIST
WISE – women into science & engineering
National Curriculum
Introduction of coursework
Equality in subjects
Impact of feminism
Higher education more open
Policies on ethnicity
Assimilation – knowledge of British culture
Criticised as victim blaming – ignores poverty and racism
Multicultural education – valuing all cultures e.g. Black History month
Misguided as minorities not lacking self-esteem
Critical race theorists – tokenism (see Topic 3)
New Right – keeps divisions, should learn British culture
Social inclusion – monitoring results, legislation, EAL.
Criticisms of multicultural education
Critical race theorists argue that MCE stereotypes minority cultures and does not tackle institutional racism.
New Right argue MCE perpetuates cultural divisions. Education should promote a single national culture and assimilate minorities into it.
Policies to encourage Social Inclusion
Detailed monitoring of results by ethnicity
Legal duty through Race Relations Act amendment
Help for voluntary ‘Saturday schools’ for minority ethnic groups
Continued funding of EAL
These policies look at individuals rather than focusing on wider social problems
**Mirza: fail to tackle structural causes
Gillborn: institutional racism must be tackled
**
Michael Gove Education Policies
**British Values: **Gove advocated for a curriculum that prioritised the teaching of British history, literature, and values to foster a shared cultural understanding. Additionally, he promoted the inclusion of topics such as democracy, the rule of law, and individual liberty, emphasising the importance of these values in shaping responsible and engaged citizens.
Assessment Reforms: Gove introduced more rigorous and standardised system of assessments in education.
Free Schools: Gove championed the establishment of free schools, which operate independently from local authority control.
Academies: Gove’s promoted the conversion of underperforming schools into academies.
Why does globalisation matter?
The British economy needs to complete with other countries
Need for highly trained workforce, e.g. computer programmers
Increased immigration creates a need for learning about other cultures
Ideas about education are shared between nations
Competition for jobs on a global scale
Impacts of Golabalistaion: Privatisation & marketisation
Promoted by international organisations: OECD, World Bank, WTO and large global private education businesses
Multi-billion pound global market
Hancock: estimates it to be worth £18 billion per year to the UK economy
This market is growing and has an impact on UK educational policy
Impact of Golabalistaion:International comparisons
Testing of Mathematics, Science & Reading
Representative samples of 9 to 15 year olds, between 350,00 and 600,00
Ranked in league tables showing relative performance of different countries
Countries can monitor how their education systems perform in a global context
PISA publishes new data every 3 years
International Comparisions Influence on educational Policy
Reassessment of effectiveness existing policy
Formation of new policy
Curriculum reform that enables education systems to complete globally
Improving teaching & learning
Policies introduced as a result of international comparisions
National Literacy & numeracy strategies: Labour, 1998 to 2010
Slimming down National Curriculum: Coalition, 2010 to 2015
Raising academic entry requirement for teacher training: 2012, following Finland
Kelly (2009):
globalisation has lead to education being an economic concern focused on meeting the needs of the economy ignoring wider dimensions of education
Wider dimensions: children’s well being, social cohesion, appreciating culture, passing on knowledge through the ages, citizenship, PHSE, etc
Evaluations on international comparisons
PISA, TIMMS AND PIRLS are set on numeracy, literacy and science only
Test results are not necessarily evidence of quality of education received, there are also concerns of reliability & validity of tests used.
International ranking may be reflecting the wider social contexts that are beyond the control of teachers & schools and therefore cannot be changed by educational reform.
T-Levels
These are new technical A-levels introduced in September 2020 – they are two year courses designed to be the equivalent of 3 A Levels.
They involve at least 45 days of work experience and have been designed to provide students with a direct pathway into skilled employment
They are available in a number of different subject/ employment areas including:
accounting
catering
education and childcare
on-site construction
media, broadcast and production.
Criticisms of Vocational Education today
The RSA notes the following problems:
There has been a lack of a clear, long term vision and strategy about what direction vocational education should take.
There has been insufficient funding, not helped by funding cuts to the post-16 sector since 2010.
There’s been poor employer engagement in training provision.
There is a fragmented system of delivery – with some students getting very high quality vocational education, but too many getting sub-standard training.
The majority of parents still hold academic qualifications in more esteem than vocational qualifications
The Forgotten half (2011)
Birdwell, Grist, Margo
Vocational children are ignored by the eductation system
