EDUCATION POLICY

• 1944 Butler Education Act:

  • Selective education where students received different education based on ability
  • All students sat an IQ test at age 11 (the 11+) to determine their school
  • Top 20% went to grammar schools, bottom 80% to secondary moderns, and technical schools for vocational education
  • Evaluations:
  • Class inequalities with grammar schools mainly for middle classes and secondary moderns for lower classes
  • IQ test determined futures at a young age
  • Some secondary moderns had low standards
  • Gender inequalities with girls needing higher scores than boys
• 1965 Comprehensives:

  • Equality of opportunity with one type of school for all pupils
  • Tripartite System abolished and Comprehensive schools established
  • Local Education Authorities maintained control of schools
  • Evaluations:
  • Poor standards in some schools
  • Banding and streaming along social class lines
  • Parents had little choice in education
• 1988 Education Act:

  • Introduced free market principles and greater parental choice
  • Raising standards in education
  • Neoliberalism and The New Right principles
  • Marketisation, Parentocracy, League Tables, OFSTED, National Curriculum, Formula Funding
  • Evaluations:
  • Competition increased standards
  • Selection by mortgage and cream skimming
  • Middle classes had more effective choice
  • League tables criticized for encouraging teaching to the test
• 1997 New Labour:

  • Responded to globalisation
  • Raising standards and focus on equality of opportunity
  • Increasing choice and diversity
  • Policies: increased funding, reduced class sizes, introduced Academies, Sure Start, EMA, tuition fees
  • Evaluations:
  • Early academies improved standards in poor areas
  • Better at improving equality of opportunity than the New Right
  • Parents liked Sure Start but it didn't improve education
  • Tuition fees deterred working class kids from university
• 2010 Coalition Government:

  • Reduced public spending on education due to financial crisis
  • Policies: cut funding, forced academisation, Free Schools, Pupil Premium
  • Evaluations:
  • Standards continued to improve
  • Academisation and Free schools are ideological with no evidence of improved standards
  • Free schools advantage the middle classes
  • Pupil Premium impact still uncertain
• Tory Education Policy 2015-2019:

  • Continued marketisation and neoliberal agenda
  • Policies: austerity and funding cuts, conversion to academies, more grammar schools, Pupil Premium, EBacc, T Level Qualifications
  • Evaluations:
  • Fully blown education market may lack democratic oversight
  • Grammar schools increase advantage for middle classes
  • EBacc potentially narrows curriculum
  • T Levels increase choice and diversity
• In response to the Covid-19 Pandemic:

  • Schools were locked down from mid-March to June 2020 and then from January to late March 2021
  • Home-based, online learning became the norm
  • GCSE and A-Level exams were cancelled in 2020 and again in 2021
  • Teachers awarded their own grades, with 45% of pupils receiving an A or A* grade in 2021 compared to 25% in 2019
  • The Catch Up Premium was introduced in 2021, providing £650 million directly to schools and £350 million for a national tutoring programme
  • Post-covid funding for schools is set to increase by 7% per pupil by 2024-25
• • Funding increases to education from 2023 do not cover the rising costs of living
• Effects of Covid-19 on education:

  • Resulted in a 'covid education gap' with children falling behind in progress in maths and reading
  • Created a covid disadvantage gap, with poor pupils falling further behind wealthier pupils due to differences in home-support standards during lockdowns
  • Students from the least deprived schools did almost three hours more work per week during lockdown compared to students from the most deprived schools
  • Teacher Predicted Grades were generous, giving an unfair advantage to students receiving them compared to those sitting exams in 2023
• Core Aims of The New Right in Education:

  • The New Right aimed to improve standards through marketisation
  • Marketisation involves making schools compete for pupils and government funding
  • Parentocracy gives parents the choice over which schools to send their children to
• The 1988 Education Act introduced:

  • League tables
  • The national curriculum (including GCSEs)
  • Formula funding
  • Open enrolment (parental choice)
  • OFSTED inspections
• League Tables:

  • Schools ranked based on exam performance
  • Published in newspapers and online
  • Intended to force schools to raise standards
• The National Curriculum:

  • Required all schools to teach the same subjects from age 7-16
  • Introduced GCSEs and SATs
  • Aimed to make it easier for parents to compare and choose between schools
• OFSTED:

  • Established in 1993 to inspect schools
  • Reports published and underperforming schools may be shut down
  • Aims to raise standards
• Open Enrolment (parental choice):

  • Parents allowed to select multiple schools
  • Some schools became oversubscribed
  • Criteria for selecting pupils, including siblings at the school and proximity
• Formula Funding:

  • Funding based on the number of pupils enrolled
  • Undersubscribed schools may decrease in size or close
  • Oversubscribed schools could expand
• The declining power of Local Education Authorities:

  • Parents gained more power to choose schools
  • Heads of schools managed budgets
  • LEAs lost control over education management at the county level
• Evidence that the 1988 Education Act worked:

  • Improved GCSE results over the last 30 years
  • No fundamental changes to the act by successive governments
  • Application of competition internationally through PISA league tables
• Criticisms of the 1988 Education Act:
• League Tables distort teaching and learning
• Criticism that the curriculum in schools has become more narrow over the years
• Schools increasingly 'teach to the test' to look good in league tables, potentially stifling children's ability to think critically and laterally
• SATS harm children's mental health, causing stress and pressure to perform well
• Rich Parents have more Choice of Schools due to higher incomes
• Middle Classes have more effective choice due to their higher incomes
• Cultural Capital gives the middle class more choice in school selection
• The best schools cream skim, becoming more selective and preferring middle class pupils
• Polarisation leads to an increase in Inequality of Education Opportunity, with the best schools getting better and the worst getting worse
• New Labour's education policies aimed to raise standards and create a skilled labor force to compete in the global knowledge economy
• New Labour wanted to achieve greater equality of opportunity by making education more inclusive and improving the experience of education for all
• New Labour's education policies were influenced by both Neoliberalism and the New Right, as well as Social Democratic ideals
• New Labour emphasized introducing free-market principles into education to make schools more competitive and give parents more choice
• New Labour increased the role of the private sector in education through academies and Private Finance Initiatives
• New Labour introduced vocational education policies to prepare children for the world of work
• New Labour focused on improving equality of opportunity and tackling social disadvantage through state education
• New Labour introduced policies to promote equality of educational opportunity, including Academies, Sure Start, Education Maintenance Allowance, and increased state expenditure on education
• Under New Labour, there was a renewed emphasis on teaching essential skills such as literacy, numeracy, and I.T.
• New Labour introduced citizenship classes to address social fragmentation
• The national curriculum was made more flexible with added vocational elements
• A Levels were modernized and made modular with the introduction of AS Levels