Education Policy

• Education Policy Periods


  • Pre-1979
  • 1979 - 1997
  • 1997 - 2010
  • 2010 - 2015
  • 2015 - today
• Education Policy Categories


  • Policy
  • Positives
  • Negatives
• Butler Act 1944


  • Introduced free, secondary school state education for all
  • Free school meals and provision of milk for pupils
  • Most failed the 11+ and went to secondary modern and ended up leaving with no qualifications. Little went to technical schools as there weren't sufficient funds
• Comprehensivisation 1965


  • True equality of opportunity
  • Less able are likely to feel more positive being educated among peers
  • Promotes social mixing and social cohesion
  • Brighter pupils may be held back and overlooks
  • Large comprehensions make it hard for personal teacher-student relationships
  • Operate with streaming and banding
• Vocational education 1983


  • Learning leads to employment
  • Helps students who aren't very academic
  • Good pathway for future employment
  • Certificates achieved are only for specific employments
  • Less students going to university
• Education Reform Act 1988


  • It helps schools maintain good quality as schools are constantly in competition with other schools
  • They're very selective meaning only middle-class students get into the good schools leaving working class students in sink schools
• GIST and WISE


  • It's produced a more 'girl friendly science in schools
  • Improved girls' attitudes towards science
  • Helped improve gender equality
  • It encouraged many subsequent equal opportunities initiatives any contributed to the national curriculum by preventing girls from opting out of science
• Sure Start 1998


  • Children in deprived areas received early intervention and support
  • Parents feel like they are inadequate
• Educational Maintenance Allowance 1999


  • Helps students in financial difficulty at university
  • Encourages more students to continue their education and go to university
  • Students may go to university and receive the allowance but not actually attend university
• Academies


  • Helps underperforming schools
  • Gives students who live in these schools' catchment areas a better education
  • The schools take the money but don't use it to improve their schools
• Curriculum 2000


  • It treats all students the same as they are all taught the same material
  • Some students don't benefit as some are better with subjects and material that isn't included in the curriculum
• University Tuition Fees


  • Helps universities become better by improving them financially
  • Helps students handle their own money
  • It puts students in debt as soon as they leave university
  • Some students don't pursue a career in the subject they took at university, so the fees are difficult to repay
• Equality Act 2010


  • Made women and men more equal in the workplace
  • Age discrimination is still allowed and accepted
  • This has also come with costs
• Abolished EMA


  • It cost the government less
  • Less students are taking money and not actually going to university like agreed
  • Less students ending up going to university as there is no longer the initiative
• Pupil Premium


  • Schools receive more financial aid so they can get more help for pupils who receive free school meals
  • Some schools don't use that money given to help their students who receive free school meals but instead use it for different things
• Austerity and funding cuts


  • It helped the government spend money and gave money to those who needed it
  • Education then suffered as a result as the government made funding cuts in education which were important leasing to a poorer standard of education
• Triples university fees


  • Helped universities as it gave them more financial aid to improve their establishment
  • Put students in more debt which is the harder to pay off
• Introduction of Free Schools

  • Made education more enjoyable for some students
  • Let students have more 'free time' and express themselves more
  • Disadvantages the students who went to free schools as the teaching wasn't at the expected standard
• Education Bill 2015


  • Gives the schools more financial help from the government if they were failing
  • Academies aren't seen as good schools as they're receiving help from the government which then reduces their level in league tables
• Prevent Strategy 2015


  • Reduces the chances of extreme radicalised views in students
  • Teachers must be harsher on students
• Continued austerity measures


  • Government saves money and allocates it to those who are most in need
  • Reduces the quality in schools and education as they have a reduced budget to spent on pupils
• Centre Assessed Grades due to Covid

  • Helps students who are academic succeed
  • Students who aren't very academic won't succeed as much as those who are
• School lockdown due to covid


  • Students who don't enjoy going to school were able to complete all their schoolwork at home without having to go to school
  • Caused a lot of mental health issues for students as they weren't able to get out of their house
  • Caused students to have reduced enthusiasm for school
• Key thinkers


  • Gewirtz – marketisation and parentocracy
  • Bartlett – cream skimming and silt shifting
  • Gilborn and Youdell – educational triage
  • Whitty – labour policies are contradictory
  • Bernstein – schooling cannot compensate for society
  • Ball – setting and streaming effects