Education policy

• 1880 Compulsory Education Act

  This educational policy/Act:

  - Provided state run elementary schools for 5-13 year olds.

  - Teaches basic literacy, maths and morality.
• 1944 Education Act (Tripartite System)

  This educational policy/Act:

  - After the 2nd World War, it was felt that society was not making use of people's talents

  - This act aimed to give people equal chance to develop individual ability.

  - Schools would be designed to accommodate poles different abilities.

  - The 11+ was introduced.

  
  

  - Grammar schools

  - Technical School

  - Secondary modern schools
• Grammar Schools


  This school type:

  - This offered academic curriculum and access to non-manual jobs.

  - Pupils who attend here were often referred to as bright

  - 20% of the population went to this school and were mainly middle class.
• Technical Schools


  This school type:

  - Were intended for children who were good at technical subjects.

  - Emphasised vocational training and technical skills.

  - Attended by 5% of the school population.
• Secondary Modern Schools


  This school type:

  - Seen as less academic and more practical.

  - Students were given the basic education, but little opportunity to take external examinations.

  - 80% of student attending this school who had FAILED the 11+
• Comprehensivisation, 1960s


  This policy:

  - in the 1960s was directed by social democratic ideas, in which it is believed everyone should have an equal chance to succeed.

  - The 11+ was abolished along with grammar schools and secondary modern schools.

  - By 1966 the Labour government was introduced.

  - By 1979, 80% of secondary pupils were attending comprehensives.

  - Functionalists believe comprehensives achieve social integration and meritocratic selection for future work roles.
• Criticisms of Comprehensives


  Evaluation of the 1966 policy:

  - Streaming occured within school

  - Labelling

  - Myth of meritocracy

  - Marxist argue that streaming/labelling reproduces class inequality
• 1988 Education Reform Act

  This policy/Act:

  - Introduced by the Conservative Government and introduced the following changes:

  1) Established a national curriculum for all state schools.

  2) Introduced a national system of testing and assessment e.g SATs

  3) Reduced the role of LEAs and gave greater control to schools and governing bodies.

  4) Established City Technology Colleges and Grant Maintained schools- both independent of local authority control.

  5) Parents were given parental choice

  
  

  - These changes established the principal of marketisation favoured by the New Right.
• Neo Liberal and New Right View

  This theoretical views:

  - Some people are naturally talented.

  - Education should be run on meritocratic principals.

  - Education should socialise pupils into shared values, such as competition.
• New Right View


  This theoretical view:

  - Education system isn't achieving its goals.

  - Education is failing as it is run by the state.

  - Does not respond to consumer demands.
• Chubb and Moe


  These sociologists:

  - Suggest American education has failed and should be open to supply and demand.

  - It does not create equality of opportunity.

  - Believe private schools are better as they are answerable to fee paying customers.

  - Call for the introduction of the market system which means putting education into the hand of the consumers.

  - Each family is given a voucher to spend on buying education from the school of their choice.

  - Schools will have to work. to improve standards and attract customers.
• Policies to Promote Marketisation (Chubb and Moe)

  These marketisation policies:

  - Publication of exam league tables and Ofsted inspections.

  - Business sponsorships of schools.

  - Open enrolment (allowing students from outside catchment area).

  - Formula funding (receive the same amount of funding for each student so they recruit more to gain more funding).

  - Schools being able to opt out of LEA control.

  - Introduction of tuition fees for HE.

  - Parents allowing others to set u[ free schools
• Sharon Gewirtz


  This sociologist:

  - Studied 14 London schools and conducted interviews with teachers and parents

  - She identified three main types of parents.:

  1) Privileged school choosers

  2) Disconnected-local choosers

  3) Semi-skilled choosers
• Will Bartlett


  This Sociologist:

  - Argues that marketisation leads to popular schools:

  - Cream skimming: selecting higher ability pupils, who gain the best results and cost less to teach

  - Silt-shifting: off-loading pupils with learning difficulties, who are expensive to teach and get poor results.
• Gillborn and Youdell


  These sociologists:

  - Schools need to achieve a good league table position in order to attract pupils and funding.

  - A-C Economy.
• New Vocationalism 1970


  This policy:

  - Work related study.

  - Job specific knowledge and skills

  - Establishes close links between education and the economy.

  - NVQ, GNVQ,
• New Labour Policies 1997

  These policies:

  - Continued much of the Conservatives policy of diversity and choice in education.

  - Encouraged schools to apply for a specialist school status in a specific subject area.

  - Argued that this offers parents greater choice and raises standards.
• New Labour Policies examples

  Examples include:

  - Sure Start

  - Education Action Zones

  - Aim Higher

  - Eduction Maintenance Allowance

  - National Literacy Strategy

  - Raised school leaving age to 18
• Coalition Government 2010


  This government:

  - Accelerated the move from an education system based on comprehensive schools run by local authorities.

  - Reduced the role of state through marketisation and privatisation.

  - Introduced academies.

  - Set up free schools.
• Privatisation of Education


  - Involves the transfer of public assets such as schools to private companies.
• Coca-colaisation


  - involves companies such as Coca-cola penetrating schools

  - Installing vending machines

  - Sponsoring PE kits

  - Have logo displayed on website
• ESI


  Education service industry
• Stuart Halls criticism of marketisation and privatisation

  This sociologists criticism:

  - The idea that marketisation/privatisation will drive up standards is a MYTH.

  - Reality is it turns education into competition to drive up PROFITS.
• Globalisation and privatisation


  Examples include:

  - edexcel (exam board) is owned by publishing company Pearson

  - The worlds leading educational software companies are owned by global multinationals (Disney, Mattel, Hambro and Vivendi)

  - Private companies 'sell' educational policies to other countries to provide these services (e.g., Ofsted type inspections)
• Stephen Ball


  This sociologist argued:

  - Marketisation has led to a fragmented education system.
• Miriam David


  This sociologist:

  - Marketised education is a 'parentocracy' which means literally RULE by parents.

  - It has shifted the power away from the education producers (teachers and schools) to the consumer (parents).
• Parentocracy


  This term:

  - Literally means 'rule by parents
• Parentocracy is a myth

  This term (phrase):

  - Not all parents have the same choice/power when choosing the schools for their children.

  - W/C parents are at a disadvantage due to their limited cultural/economic/educational capital

  - Ethnic Minority parents, lack the skill and understanding of the school system to have parental power to choose.
• Criticism of the tripartite system

  Criticisms of the 1944:

  - Marxist argued that the 11+ reproduced class inequality (channelling w/c and m/c to different schools - Grammar and Comprehensives)

  - It also justified inequality (legitimated the inequality by focusing on ability rather than class)

  - Feminist would also argue it reproduced gender inequality (girls had to achieve higher pass mark on 11+)
• Privatisation OF education


  Privatisation now Includes:

  Private companies running education services

  - School services (e.g. staff development)

  - Management of schools

  School inspections (Tribal inspections, largest operator for OFSTED)

  - Designing and building schools

  - Branding of schools

  - Forming educational policy

  - Running the examinations
• Privatisation IN education


  Privatisation now Includes:

  Schools manage themselves like a private company.

  - Performance related pay for teachers.

  - Inspection of capita funding (funded based on how many students they have)

  - Efficiency and competition between schools.

  - Use of non-teaching staff

  - Marketisation
• Globalisation


  This term:

  - The world is more inconnected than ever before.

  - Due to transport, technology, global media, movement of people and migration, ideas, etc.
• Global league tables


  This effect of globalisation:

  - PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science study)

  - Tests in science and maths of 9-15 year olds from 50-60 countries every 3-5 years - sample = 325,000-600,000.

  - league tables

  - Can inform policy.
• Hancock


  This sociologist:

  - Global education market is worth 18 Billion
• Evaluation of privatisation


  Evaluation

  + Schools become more efficient

  + Can inform policy

  +Profit incentives for failing schools

  - produce class inequality

  - private companies can go out of business leaving pupils with no school

  - unequal distribution of resources

  - Profit made isn't always channeled back into the education system
• Educational policy


  This term:

  - Plans and actions set by the government, through Acts of Parliament.

  - Comes with instructions and recommendations to schools and local education authorities to help implement.
• 2010 Academies Act


  This Act/policy

  - made it possible for all state run schools to become academies.
• PREVENT strategy


  This POLICY

  - Introduced by COALITION in 2015

  - Give schools responsibility to prevent radicalisation/extremist

  - Strength - bonds community and values

  - Weakness - additional pressure on teachers to perform additional role
• Conservative 2015 policies


  This government:

  - More demanding GCSEs by removing coursework and modular assessments

  - Changed from grades to 9-1

  - Progress 8 as a measure of school performance

  - Austerity meant funding cuts

  - Continued the movement to forced academies and free schools (80% of schools are now academies)

  - Continued the pupil premium

  - Introduced T - levels as a technical equivalent to A Level

  - 30 hours of free childcare/nursery places for 3-4 year olds (only in dual income families)