Topic 6 -Educational Policy and Inequality Flashcards
the tripartite system - 1944 influenced meritocracy- people should achieve their status in life through their own efforts
children were selected and allocated to different types of secondary school grammar schools- offered an academic curriculum and access to non manual jobs for middle class children.
secondary modern-offered a practical curriculum and access to manual jobs for working class students this also justified inequality
comprehensive school
aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic system
marketisation
introducing market forces of consumer choice into education. Marketisation has created an education market through:
reducing state control
- introducing competition of schools and parental control over schools
The new right and neoliberals favour marketization because schools have to attract customers ,
parentocracy _ rule by parents. David argues that in the education market, power shifts away from teachers and schools and shifts towards the consumers -0the parents
They claim that this encourages diversity among schools, giving parents more choice and better standards
policies that promote marketization :specialist schools, specialising in IT and languages
- formula funding- where schools receive the same amount of funding for each pupil
- schools having to compete to attract pupils
marketization- the reproduction of inequality
marketization critics believe that marketization has increased inequality
Ball and Whitty show us how exam league tables reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities within schools
marketization - league tables and cream skimming
cream skimming - good schools are more selective and can recruit high achieving middle class pupils
silt shifting - good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools exam league table position
Gerwitz- parental choice
Privileged skilled choosers
Disconnected local choosers
semi skilled choosers
by increasing parental cjhoice, marketization benefits middle class parents as they can use their cultural and economic capital Privileged skilled choosers professional middle class parents who used their cultural and economical capital - they were well educated and confident and able to take full advantages to opportunities They knew how the school admissions worked, visited the schools that were in interest and researched the options available to them
disconnected local choosers - working class parents that had restricted choices as they lacked in economical and cultural capital they found it difficult to understand the school admissions system , less able to manipulate the system to their advantage heir funds were limited and chose schools that were nearest to them
semi skilled choosers- mainly working class, ambitious for their children , they found it difficult understanding the educational market , this lead them to be frustrated because they could not get their children into schools that they wanted
marketization- new labour and inequality
new labour introduced policies to reduce inequality such as :
The aim higher programme-
Education maintenance allowances - payments to people of low income to encourage them to gain better qualifications
myth of parentocracy
the school give the appearance of a parentocracy , its based on parents having a free choice of school
Ball argues that parentocracy is a myth and not a reality
gerwitz argue that middle class parents take advantage of this
coalition government policies from 2010
academies
free schools
fragmented centralisation
the government tried to move away from a school system that was based on comprehensive schools , run by local authorities
the aim was to encourage competition and innovance
coalition government policies : academies
all schools were encouraged to turn away from authority control and become academies
some academies are run by private educatiuonal businesses
coalition government policies : free schools
free schools are set up and run by parents , teachers, faith organisations , giving parents and teachers the control to run a school that they are happy with
AO3: allen argues that 20% of schools are free schools , which only benefit children from highly educated families
coalition government policies : fragmented centralisation
fragmentation L: the comprehensive school system is being replaced by provision, leading to greater inequality in opportunities
centralisation of control : government has the ability to make schools become academies or allow free schools to be set up
coalition policies and inequality
marketisation policies are said to have increased inequalities. This includes : free school meals
the pupil premium
free school meals : for all children in reception and above
the pupil premium : money that school receives for children form a disadvantaged background
Ofsted found that pupil premium is not always spent on those who need it
for example, university fees have tripled to up to £9000 a year .
the privatisation of education
privatisation includes the transfer iof public assets such as schools to private companies
