Educational policy in Britain before 1988

• social policy 


  a plan of action of government which aims to improve or reform society

  they aims to give equal opportunities to all and provide section and choices
• the comprehensive school system 1965

  • aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic
  • the 11+ was to be abolished along with grammar and secondary modern schools and be replaced by comprehensive schools that all pupils within the area would attend
  • (+) teach wider ranges of subjects
  • (+) helps lower ability students
  • (-) brighter students may be held back
  • (-) discipline may be challenging to control due to large intakes
• the 1944 Tripartite system 


  • education began to be influenced by the idea of meritocracy rather than it being ascribed at birth by their class background
  • the 1944 education act brought in the tripartite system because children were to be selected and allocated to one of three different types of secondary school, supposedly to their aptitudes and abilities
  • these were identified by the 11+ exam
  • added grammar schools
  • offered an academic curriculum and access to non-manual jobs and higher education
  • they were for pupils who passed the 11+
  • mainly middle class pupils
  • secondary modern schools
  • offered a non academic 'practical' curriculum and access to manual work for pupils who failed the 11+
  • these pupils were mainly working class
• evaluation of tripartite system

  • (-) reproduced class inequality by channeling the two social classes into two different types of school that offered unequal opportunities
  • (-) reproduced gender inequality by requiring girls to gain higher marks than boys in the 11+ to obtain a grammar school
• functionalist view of the role of comprehensives

  • fulfils essential functions such as social integration and meritocratic selection for future work roles
  • promotes social integration by bringing different classes together in 1 school
  • Comprehensives are more meritocratic as pupils have longer to develop/show abilities
• Ford 1969

  • found little social mixing between working class and middle class pupils largely because of streaming
• marxist view of the role of comprehensives 


  • marxists see education as serving the interests of capitalism by reproducing and legitimising class inequality
  • Comprehensives aren't meritocratic, as labelling and streaming reproduce class inequality
  • No 11+ also causes the myth of meritocracy as it looks like chances are more equal, and that failure is the individual's fault