social policy

• what is social policy?

  Educational social policy refers to the plans and strategies for education introduced by the government
• 1870 Forster act


  this enabled for all children aged between 5-10 to receive free, state education

  there was an emphasis on punctuality, obedience and hard work
• Education Reform Act


  1988

  • introduced by New Right (conservative)
  • New Right aimed to get rid of welfare dependancy and state control.
  • Margaret Thatcher
• Tripartite school system


  1944 Education Act

  • Consisted of grammar schools, secondary modern and technical schools
  • Its aims were to promote meritocracy
  • 11+ exam used to determine what school a pupil went to
  • more bipartite as there were few technical schools
• Pros of Tripartite system

  • In theory students were able to have an education that best met their ability
  • removed some class barriers - grammar schools were now accessible t o w-class students
• cons of a tripartite system

  • reproduces class inequality by channeling two social classes into two types of schools offering unequal opportunities
  • reproducing gender inequality by requiring girls to gain higher marks on the 11+
  • legitimises inequality through the ideology that ability is inborn
  • m-class students are given more support and encouragement
• Comprehensive school system


  1965

  • aimed to overcome the class divide brought about by the tripartite system and actually make education meritocratic
  • 11+ abolished and catchment areas determined the school apupil went to
• pros of comprehensive system

  • helped to encourage social cohesion
  • they don't base admissions on academic or social factors
• cons of comprehensive system

  • high achieving students can be held back by lower achieving students
  • m-class students are more advantaged
• perspectives on tripartite system

  • marxists would say it removes some class barriers, but there are other factors that would have a negative impact on w-class pupils causing them to perform worse
  • functionalists would say the system is good as it promotes meritocracy within education
• perspectives on comprehensive system

  • functionalists like this system as it promotes social integration and cohesion by bringing the classes together
  • however Julienne Ford (1969) found little mixing between the classes
  • more meritocratic as pupils given more time to develop their abilities
  • marxists would say it is not meritocratic
  • reproduces class inequality by not giving w-class children an equal opportunity
  • myth of meritocracy - legitimises class inequality
• marketisation

  1988 education reform act

  • this is the process of schools being run like businesses through creating competition between schools and give parents more choice (parentocracy - Miriam David)
  • this would mean less control of the state
  • the aim of this is to raise standards and encourage diversity in schools
• policies of marketisation - impact on parents choice

  • school league tables based on exam results - parents can navigate what schools are the best and worst
  • higher tuition fees for uni - parents know that the investment will go back into improving the uni
  • funding formula - parents will take their children to schools with many pupils
  • national curriculum
• the A-C economy 


  this is an educational triage that shows the successfulness of students at getting the grades A-C > determines their place on league tables

  • those who will pass
  • borderline C/D students
  • hopeless cases
• Gerwitz - 3 kinds of parents

  • privileged-skilled choosers - m/class parents who have more cultural capital
  • disconnected local choosers - w/class who were restricted from economic and cultural capital
  • semi-skilled choosers - w/class are ambitious for their child, want them to do well, rely on opinions from others
• New Labour Policies


  1997-2010

  • Tony Blair aimed to reduce inequalities, promote greater diversity and choice
  • Education needed to move into the 'post-comprehensive' era - the one size fits all approach should be scrapped
• examples of NL policies

  • Aim higher programme - aimed to raise the aspirations of groups who under-represented in higher education
  • Educational Maintenance Allowance - payments given to students from low-income backgrounds to stay in education after 16 -£50
  • Designated some area as Education Action zones - schools in deprived areas given more resources and money
  • National Literacy Strategy - literacy and numeracy hours, and reducing primary school class sizes
  • Academies - a new type of school started to help struggling schools - gov provides the money
• Evaluation of NL policies

  • EMA scrapped by 2010 coalition as students did not use money for education
  • New Labour paradox - although they aimed to reduce inequality but they introduced tuition fees and the attainment gap has remained high between w/class and m/class
  • Benn - contradictory as reduces inequality and introduced tuition fees
• Coalition government from 2010

  • conservative-lib/dem were inspired by new right ideas
  • increased tuition fees to £9000 a year
  • introduced pupil premium and free school meals
  • schools are forced to be a academies when OFSTED report is 'satisfactory' or below
• Free schools

  • coalition gov.
  • gives anyone the opportunity to create a school if they are unhappy with the local schools available
  • funded directly by the gov
  • gives parents choice
• Evaluation of Coalition 


  Ball - academies caused fragmentation and centralisation of control
• privatisation


  2010

  • this the transfer of public assets to private companies
  • this is how education becomes a source of profit Ball(2007) calls this eduaction services industres (ESI)
  • PPP are an example of ESI and are usually involved in building and designing schools, as well as supply teachers
  • cola-isation - private sector penetrating education indirectly - Molnar - schools carry goodwill