sociology-Educational policy and inequality in society

• what is the purpose of educational policy: •Selection and choice• Different types of school, Schools able to select pupils, Parents able to choose a school

  -equal opportunities

  -control of education

  -marketisation and privatisation
• eduactional policy and the industrial revolution

  ›There was no mass education system in the UK – was not yet needed

  ›Education available to minority – through fee-paying schools or the church and charities

  ›However, industrialisation required an educated workforce – why was this?

  ›The state made schooling compulsory from ages 5-13 in which year?1880
• timeline of educational policy in the UK

  
• the tripartite system

  
• Tripartite system


  Three types of secondary education; grammar schools for the top 15%, secondary moderns for those who failed the 11+, technical schools for the more vocational students
• Butlers Education Act 1944

  Introduced the tripartite system; stated it would provide each child with an education suitable for its age, aptitude and ability. School leaving age raised to 15, education free
• Criticisms of the tripartite system

  Labels children at 11, little mobility between schools, socially divisive (coaching etc), grammar schools better funded, girls had to get a higher score to pass
• Education policy


  An Act that the Government passes to do with education
• Comprehensive system


  Brought in by a Labour government to try and end the class divide
• Percentage of children in comprehensives by 1978

  80%
• Advantages of comprehensives


  Less class divisive as all classes socialised and worked together, no academic test so avoidance of labelling as 'failures
• Disadvantages of comprehensives


  Dependent on area; working and middle class areas, still divisions in streaming, but with mixed ability pupils are held back or struggle
• Thatcher's education policy


  Marketisation of education (schools in direct competition), vocationalism to make education fit the economy's needs more effectively
• Vocational education


  Where it prepares children directly for a particular job; examples being BTECs, applied GCSEs, apprenticeships, placements
• 1988 Education Reform Act

  National Curriculum, SATs, National League Tables, local management of schools, formula funding, open enrollment and parental choice, OFSTED
• Advantages of 1988 Act

  David; parentocracy (rule by parents), giving parents more choice over schools
• Disadvantages of 1988 Act

  Gerwitz; myth of parentocracy. Catchment areas most important, 'pushy' middle class parents can work the system but not the working class
• Gillborn and Youdell


  A-to-C economy; 'educational triage.' Those who will pass anyway, with potential, hopeless cases.
• Bartlett (1993)


  Cream-skimming and silt-shifting; schools selecting high-ability students, offloading students with learning difficulties to other schools to avoid expense and bad results
• Walford (1991)


  City technology colleges; vocational education for all classes, attractive to middle classes as they were seen as being the next best thing to a grammar school
• Fitz (1997)


  Grant maintained schools opted out of LEA control; overspent eg spending £10,000 on a new pipe organ to 're-invent tradition
• Labour education policy


  Specialist schools, academies, more target setting that showed up in league tables, education action zones, Aim Higher group, EMA, school leaving age raised to 18
• Purpose of specialist schools

  Wider choice for parents; specialism may appeal to child
• Purpose of Labour academies

  To turn around failing schools by giving them greater autonomy from the LEA; greater control of budget and curriculum, resulting in more money.
• Purpose of target setting

  More 'parentocracy', freedom of information so they could choose a school more easily
• Purpose of educational action zones

  More money to less privileged areas, booster classes, compensatory education
• Purpose of Aim Higher group

  To encourage more working class students to look at university and to be inspired; 50% uni target
• Purpose of EMA


  To encourage students to pursue education post-16
• Purpose of raising the leaving age to 18

  To make sure working class students were pursuing further education rather than jobs with no further chance for qualification; eg apprenticeships, BTECs, training
• Gerwitz


  Middle classes skilled choosers, semi-skilled choosers working classes, unskilled choosers accept the school they're given
• Macrae (1997)


  Top; highly selective sixth forms attracting middle classes, middle; vocational, bottom; gov funded training organisations, low level courses for low-paid jobs
• Chubb and Moe (1990)

  State education should have supply and demand; propose a voucher system to spend on education, schools should receive funding based on quality of education, state system fails to produce students with skills needed by economy
• Coalition education policy


  Academy status for high-level schools, free schools, EMA scrapped, reduction in uni places, high fees, pupil premiums, linear exams to increase rigour
• Purpose of coalition academies

  Idea that the schools themselves know best about what services to buy etc; to reduce bureaucracy
• Purpose of free schools

  Shortage of school places throughout England, will provide some of these for a cheaper price.
• Disadvantages of free schools

  Class divisive as they will most likely be set up by middle class parents, more religious separation due to many applications being from religious groups
• Purpose of pupil premiums

  Every child on Free School Meals is given £430 towards their education; to reduce material deprivation and the 'hidden costs of schooling
• How does the education system pass on norms and values?

  - Sanctions and rewards

  - Secondary socialisation

  - Imitation

  - Gender role socialisation
• What is the hidden curriculum?

  transmitting social norms, attitudes, and beliefs to students through the education institution
• What is labelling?


  Process of assigning an image or a trait to someone or a group