Education acts

• Forster Education Act - 1870

  • Introduced elementary education for 5-10 year olds.
  • First school system in the UK
• Butler Education Act - 1944


  Pupils took an 11+ exam and were sorted into secondary modern, grammar or technical schools

  30% passes -> Grammar

  70% failed -> SM or technical
• Comprehensivisation - 1965


  The Labour government insisted that the LEA recognised schools so that they educated everyone.

  Class, gender, ethnicity didn't matter
• Education Reform Act - 1988


  Education to link with the economy

  • Vocational courses and more work placement schemes
  • OFSTED
  • National cirriculum
  • Marketisation
• New Labour - 1997

  • Reduced class sizes to 30
  • Numeracy and literacy in schools
  • Faith and specialist schools
  • Increase of students going to university
• Coalition government - 2010

  • Academy trust schools
  • Free schools
  • League tables
  • Narrowing the cirriculum
  • Performance related pay
• Conservative government - 2010

  • More grammar and private schools
  • Privatise education
• League tables 


  Backed by the New Right to ensure competition between schools through GCSE and A-Level results
• Faith schools


  A type of specialist school that typically enrolls pupils based on religion. i.e. to be accepted into a CoE school, application needs to be signed by a priest or bishop
• Beacon school


  A successful school whose methods and practices are brought to the attention of the education service as a whole in order that they may be adopted by other schools
• PISA rankings


  The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests are a way of comparing the academic performance of students in different countries around the world.

  UK 2018 ranking:

  -> Maths - 17th

  -> Science - 15th

  -> Reading - 15th
• OFSTED 


  Introduced my Margaret Thatcher to improve standards within schools. Apart of education official statistics, available on government websites that are easily accessible to parents and researchers
• Tripartite system 


  The separation of schools into three types:

  -> Grammar

  -> Technical

  -> Secondary modern
• EMA/Bursaries 


  Financial support for disadvantaged students in secondary school and university i.e. free school meals
• Introduction of academies


  Influenced under Conservative government. Receive funding directly from the government and are run by an academy trust. They have more control over how they do things than community schools. Academies do not charge fees
• Specialist schools


  Schools that have an emphasis or focus in a specialised subject area i.e. science or maths
• Changes to GCSEs and coursework


  Exams will be the main focus of assessment, steering away from courseork heavy/BTEC subjects. Believed to have too much teacher influence and not solely based on student abilities
• Changes to linear exams 


  Influenced by conservative government. A-Level courses i.e. english and history, will have exams focusing over the entire 2-year course. Steering away from modular examination
• Rise in tuition fees


  Influenced under labour government. The rise in students going to university in the 1990s caused tuition fees to rise to £9,250 per year
• GIST and WISE 


  GIST - Girls Into Science and Technology

  WISE - Women Into Science, Engineering and Construction

  Introduced in schools to encourage girls and women to pursue careers in science and STEM pathways
• Free schools 


  Free schools are funded by the government but are not run by the local authority. They have more control over how they do things.

  Free schools can:

  -> Set their own pay and conditions for staff

  -> Change the length of school terms and the school day

  -> They do not have to follow the national curriculum.

  Anyone can set up a free school, including:

  -> Charities

  -> Teachers

  -> Parents
• Education Action Zones


  Influenced under Blair's Labour government. followed on from a 1960s initiative, Education Priority Areas and bringing together a group of schools with parents, community groups and businesses, aiming to attract sponsorship and investment from the private sector.
• Marketisation of Education


  Influenced under Thatcher's Conservative government. Aiming to close the gap between the economy and the education system
• National cirriculum


  Sets out the standard teaching criteria across the country, for each subject
• Standardised testing


  All exam-takers are to answer the same questions and are scored in a consistent manner. Allows for the comparison between student performance