Educational policy

• Marketisation


  The process of where by services like education are pushed towards operating like a business based on supply and demand. Students are considered consumers rather than pupils.
• Privatisation in Education


  Changing the internal processes of a school to be more like a business, for example treating Parents and students as consumers, target setting, performance related pay and league tables.
• Parentocracy


  When a child's Educational achievement has more to do with parental wealth and wishes than student ability. Parents are able to have more choice over where to send their children.
• Three features of marketisation

  • Independence- allowing schools to run themselves how they see fit
  • Competition-Making schools compete with each other for students
  • Choice - Giving customers (parents and students) more choice in where they go to school
• Three elements of quality control


  • Ofsted Inspections
  • Publication of performance Tables such as examination results
  • National curriculum-baseline for what is taught
• Evaluation of Privatisation of Education


  • Positives: More efficient, More choice for parents, Profit making might induce companies to support failing schools
  • Negatives: Takes money from the education system, Business go out of business-leave schs stranded, Less equality, Reduced quality, Dumbing Educational control
• Education Policies (Marketisation)


  • Marketisation Policies: League Tables, Local Management Schools, Funding Formula, Open Enrolment
  • Raising Standards Policies: Ofsted, National Curriculum, National Testing, Business sponsored Academies, Specialist schools, New Style Academies, Free Schools, Maximum class sizes for 5-7 yr old, Building Schools for the future program, Education Action zones, Business sponsored Academies, Pupil Premium, English Baccalaureate, Reform of the National Curriculum, Reform of the Exams system, Tougher performance targets for schools
• Teachers tend to allocate more resources to the students who are on the C/D boarder line in order to achieve the 5 A*-C needed for the league tables thus ignoring those who are unlikely to achieve this.
• Due to the funding formula, schools need to retain and attract students in order to receive funding. Schools will therefore lead to the dumbing down of teaching and standards in order to retain students who might leave if they are pushed too hard or if the courses are too difficult.
• The 1944 Education Act brought in the Tripartite System which was based on the principles of meritocracy. This involved children being selected and allocated to one of 3 different types of secondary school, supposedly according to their aptitude and abilities.
• Types of secondary schools in the Tripartite System

  • Grammar Schools
  • Secondary Modern Schools
  • Technical Schools
• The comprehensive system aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic. The 11+ was abolished along with grammars and secondary moderns. All pupils in a certain area would attend the local comprehensive school.
• The Education Reform Act of 1988 introduced marketization to education. This has created an education market by reducing direct state control over education and increasing competition between schools and parent choice of school.
• Evaluation of the Tripartite System


  • Marxists: Rather than promoting meritocracy the system reproduced class inequality by channelling two social classes into two different types of schools that offered unequal opportunities
  • Feminists: The system also reproduced gender inequality by requiring girls to gain higher marks than boys in the 11+ to obtain a grammar school place
• Evaluation of Comprehensive Schooling


  • Functionalists: Were in favour of comprehensive schooling because they argue it promotes integration and bringing children of different social classes together in one school. However an early study by Ford (1969) found little social mixing between working-class and middle-class pupils because of streaming.
• Evaluation of League Tables

  • Ball (1994) and Whitty (1998) criticise marketization policies by highlighting that they reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities between schools
  • Bartlett (1993) explained this by noting these policies encourage: Cream-skimming-'good' schools can be more selective, chose their own customer and recruit high achieving mainly middle class pupils. As a result these pupils gain an advantage, Silt-shifting - 'good' schools can avoiding taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools league table position.
• For schools with poor league table positions, the opposite applies: they cannot afford to be selective and have to take less able, mainly working class pupils so their results are poorer and they remain unattractive to middle-class parents. The overall effect of league tables is thus to produce unequal schools and reproduce social class inequalities.
• Types of parents in a marketised education system

  • Privileged-skilled Choosers -Professional middle class parents who possessed cultural capital. They knew the important of putting a particular school as first choice. They had time to visit schools and the skills to research options. Their economic capital meant they could afford to move their children around the education system to get the best deal out of it.
  • Disconnected-local choosers-working class parents whose lack of cultural capital mean they did not understand how school admissions worked. They were less confident with dealing with schools and less aware of choices open to them. Their lack of economic capital meant their child was restricted to going to the local school due to travel expenses.
  • Semi-skilled choosers - Working class parents who were ambitious for their children. However they too lacked cultural capital and were frustrated by their inability to obtain a good school for their child.
• Allen (2010) argued that research from Sweden where 20% of schools are free schools, shows that they only benefit children from highly educated families. In the UK evidence suggests that free schools take fewer disadvantages pupils than over nearby schools. For example in 2011 only 6.4% of pupils at Bristol Free School were eligible for free school meals compared with 22.5% of pupils across the city as a whole.
• Globalisation


  The increased interconnectedness between people and nation states. Includes technological, economic and cultural interconnectedness.
• Migration


  The movement of peoples from one place to another. Either within a country or between countries.
• PISA Tests


  The Programme for International Student Assessment is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in member and non-member nations intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading.
• PREVENT Policy


  Prevent is about safeguarding and supporting those vulnerable to radicalisation. Prevent is 1 of the 4 elements of CONTEST, the Government's counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.
• Features of Globalisation


  • Technological Development
  • Economic Changes
  • Political Changes
  • Cultural Changes
  • Migration
• Impact of Globalisation on Education


  • Global ICT companies such as Apple and Google creating online resources and curriculums.
  • Global rankings used to compare and contrast systems and raise standards.
  • Increased multiculturalism in schools and decline of the ethnocentric curriculum
  • Increased risk and safeguarding issues for schools-e.g. Cyber bullying, PREVENT and Anti Radicalisation.
• Perspectives views on Globalisation and Education

  • Hyper Globalist View
  • Marxist View
  • Neo-Liberal View
  • New Fordist View
• Hyper Globalist View


  • Creation of global citizens
  • Greater tolerance and respect for differences.
  • Greater access to information creating higher educational achievement.
• Marxist View


  • Globalisation only provides more educational opportunities to the wealthy.
  • Global Corporations are setting the educational agenda.
  • Creating a Digital Divide.
  • Disempowering of teachers.
• Neo-Liberal View


  • Globalisation allows for private schools and universities to expand around the world.
  • Globalisation means that governments can play a reduced role in the education system and reduce funding.
• New Fordist View


  • Globalisation has increased competition in the job market which means governments should increase education spending.
  • Needs to be more focus on skills and competences to be able to complete globally.