POLICIES IN DEPTH

• Educational policy in Britain pre 1988


  Late 18th century - no state schools, education available to minority.

  Industrialisation increases need for educated workforce & from late 19th century state began to become more involved with education. Mc pupils given academic curriculum to prepare them for career in professions for office work. Wc given schooling to equip them with basic numeracy & literacy skills meets for routine factory work & instil them obedient attitude to superiors.
• Selection: the tripartite system 1944


  Children selected & allocated to 1 of 3 different types of secondary school according to 11+ results.

  - grammar schools, offered academic curriculum & access to non manual jobs & higher education. They were for pupils with academic ability who passed 11+ = mainly mc.

  - secondary modern, offered non academic practical curriculum & access to manically work for pupils who failed 11+ = mainly wc.

  - technical schools, existed in few areas only. TS & 11+ - reproduces class inequality by channelling 2 school classes into 2 different types of school that offered unequal opportunities, also reproduces gender inequality - making girls gain higher marks to get grammar school place.

  TS - legitimated inequalities trough ideology that ability is inborn.
• The comprehensive school system


  Introduced in 1965, aimed to overcome class divide of TS & make education more meritocratic. 11+ be abolished & grammars & secondary moderns - replaced by comprehensive schools that all pupils within area would attend. Left to local education authority decide where to go comprehensive & not all did = grammar secondary modern still exists.
• 2 theories of the role of comprehensives


  Functionalists - comprehensives promote social integration by bringing children of different social classes together in 1 school. It's more meritocratic as it gives pupils longer periods in which to develop & show their abilities unlike TS.

  Marxists - comprehensives not meritocratic, reproduce class inequality from 1 gen 2 next through continuation of practice of streaming & labelling - continue to deny wc children equal opportunity.
• Education reform act 1988


  Marketisation, league tables, parentocracy, ofsted, national curriculum = improve schools through competition. Good schools = good league table ranking, bad schools = bad rankings. Pick & choose students = educational triage - A-C economy.
• Marketisation


  Process of introducing market forces of consumer choice & competition between suppliers into areas run by state - education. It's created education market by reducing direct state control over education & increasing both competition between schools & parental choice of school.

  Become central theme of government education policy since 1988 education reform act introduced by conservatives. New labour government emphasising standards, diversity & choice. From 2010 conservatives took marketisation even further - creating free schools & academies.

  Neo & new right like this = schools have to attract customers - parents by competing with each other.
• Parentocracy


  Policies to promote marketisation include:

  - publication of league tables & ofsted reports.

  - business sponsorship of schools.

  - allowing parents & others to set up free schools.

  David - marketised education as parentocracy = rules by parents. Education market - power shifts away from producers (teachers & schools) to consumers (parents). Encourages diversity among schools, gives parents more choice & raises standards.
• Reproduction of inequality


  Increased inequality from marketisation.

  Ball & Whitty - marketisation policies such as exam league tables & funding formula reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities between schools.
• League tables & cream skimming


  Publishing schools exam results in league tables = ensures schools that achieve good results in more demand as parents are attracted to those with good league table rankings.

  Bartlett - cream skimming: good schools can be more selective, choose own customers & recruit high achieving mainly mc pupils = gain advantage.

  - silt shifting: good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who get poor results & damage schools league table position.
• Funding formula


  Schools allocated funds by formula based on how many pupils they attract = popular schools get more funds & can afford better qualified teachers & better facilities. Popularity allows them to be more selective & attracts more able/ambitious mc kids. Unpopular schools lose income & difficult to match teacher skills & facilities of more successful rivals = failure & funding is reduced.
• Gewirtz: parental choice


  Study of 14 London secondary schools = differences in parents economic & cultural capital = class differences in how far they can exercise choice of secondary school. 3 types of parents:

  - privileged skilled choosers = mc parents used economic & cultural capital to gain educational capital for children. Were prosperous, confident & well educated, able to take full adv of choices. Parents had cultural capital - know how school admissions systems work.

  - disconnected local choosers = wc parents, choices = restricted by lack of economic & cultural capital. Found it difficult to understand school admissions, less confident in dealings & had less adv. Distance & cost of travel = restrictions on choice of school.

  - semi skilled choosers = wc parents but ambitious for kids. Lack cultural capital & difficult making sense of education market & rely on others opinions.

  Gewirtz = mc parents possess cultural & economic capital & have more choice than wc.
• Myth of parentocracy


  Ball - it's a myth not reality. Makes it appear that all parents have same freedom to choose which school to send their kids to.

  Gewirtz = mc parents better able to take adv of choices.

  Disguising schooling reproduces class inequality = myth of parentocracy makes inequality in education appear fair & inevitable.
• New labour & inequality 1997


  Reduce inequality:

  - designations deprived areas as education action zones & giving them more resources.

  - aim higher programmes to raise aspirations of groups who are under represented in higher education.

  - education maintenance allowances = payments to students from low incomes to encourage them to stay in school after 16 = better qualifications.

  - sure start = national literacy strategy, lit & numeracy hours & reducing primary school classes = reduce inequality.
• Coalition government policies 2010


  Move away from education based on comprehend schools run by local academies = influenced by neoliberal & new right ideas - reducing role of state in provision of education through marketisation & privatisation.

  Encourage excellence, competition & innovation by freeing schools from state.
• Academies


  2010 - all schools encourages to leave local authority control & become academies. Funding taken from local authority budges & given to academies by government & academies given control over curriculum.

  2012 - over 1/2 secondary schools converted to academies. Removed focus on reducing inequality.
• Free schools


  Schools set up & run by parents, teachers, faith organisations or businesses rather than local authority.

  Improve educational standards by taking control away from state & giving power to parents. It gives them opportunity to create new schools if unhappy with state schools in local area.
• Fragmented centralisation


  Ball - promoting academies & free schools = increased fragmentation & centralisation of control over educational provision.

  - fragmentation = comprehensive system is being replaced by patchwork of diverse provision involving private providers that leads to greater inequality in opportunity.

  - centralisation of control = central government has power to allow or require schools to become academies or free schools to be set up. These are funded directly by central government. Rapid growth has greatly reduced til of elected local authorities in education.
• Coalition policies & inequality


  Aimed to reduce inequity through policies:

  - free school meals = for all children in reception, yr 1 & 2.

  - pupil premium = money that schools receive for each pupil from disadvantaged background.

  EMA abolishes & uni fees 3x to £9000 a year.

  Cutting sure start & EMA = reduced opportunities for wc pupils & increases uni fees discourage them from entering higher education.
• Privatisation of education


  Transfer of public assets - schools to private companies. Trend towards privatisation of imposts aspects of education. Education becomes source of profit for capitalists = education services industry - Ball.
• Blurring the public/private boundary


  Senior officials in public sector - directors of local authorities & head teachers now leave to set up or work for private sector education businesses. Companies bid for contracts to provide services to schools.
• Privatisation & globalisation of education policy


  Private companies in education services industry are foreign owned. Exam board Edexcel = leaned but US educational publishing & Pearson.

  Ball - some Pearson GCSE exam answers marked in Sydney & Iowa.

  Nation states becoming less important in policy making which is shifting to global level & privatised.
• The cola-isation of schools


  Private sector also penetrating education indirectly - through vending machines & development of brand loyalty through displays of logos & sponsorships = cola-isation of schools.

  Schools are product endorsement.
• Education as commodity


  Ball - fundamental change is taking place in which privatisation is becoming key factor shaking educational policy. Policy is increasingly focuses on moving educational services out of public sector controlled by nation state to be provided by probated companies. Education is turning into legitimate object of private profit making, commodity to be bought & sold in education market.

  Privatisation= state is losing its role as provider of educational services.
• Policies on gender & ethnicity

  Policies have impact on other differences in achievement.
• Gender


  19th century - girls excluded from higher education. Now under tripartite system girls achieve higher marks in 11+ to get grammar school place.

  Since 70s policies - GIST introduced to reduce gender differences in subject choice.
• Ethnicity


  Policies aimed at raising achievements of children from minority ethnic backgrounds gone through phases:

  - assimilation = policies in 60s & 70s focused on needs for pupils from minorities to assimilate into mainstream British culture for raising achievement.

  - multicultural education = policies through 80s & 90s aimed to promote achievements of children from minorities by valuing all cultures in school curriculum & raising minorities self esteem & achievements.

  - social inclusion = of pupils from minorities & policies to raise achievement became focus in late 90s: detailed monitoring of exam results by ethnicity.