Marketisation

• Marketisation

  • Refers to the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state.
  • Marketisation has created an 'education market' by increasing competition between schools, increasing parental choice and reducing direct control over the state.
  • Policies that promoted marketisation included:
  • Funding formula
  • National curriculum
  • National testing and attainment targets
  • League tables
  • Parental choice
• Funding formula

  • Schools were allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they could attract.
  • This is called 'open enrolment' and allowed a schools to enrol as many children as they could fit in the building.
  • The popular schools received more funs and better qualified teachers as this made the school more attractive to the more able/ambigious middle class.
  • Unpopular schools would lose income and would find it difficult to match the teacher skills and facilities of rival schools which lead them to fail to attract pupils, further reducing their funding.
• Evaluation of funding formula

  • The funding formula created class inequality because mainly the middle class went to the popular, oversubscribed schools.
  • The increase in funding in turn raised the middle classes opportunities and increased their academic success.
  • The institute for public policy in 2012 found that competition orientated systems produce more segregation of children from different backgrounds.
• National curriculum

  • The government decided what would be taught in schools, instead of teachers, so that schools could be 'equal'.
  • This would ensure that basic skills were delivered and these could be manure by students meeting set attainment targets for key stages.
  • Students leaving schools would be employable and schools could easily be measured on whether they had met their targets.
• Evaluation of national curriculum

  • The national curriculum restricted subject choice and there was a cultural bias in the content (a lack of concern for ethnic minorities).
  • Stephen Ball said it ignored ethnic diversity.
• Testing attainment goals

  • The national curriculum being put in place, and everyone being taught the same thing means that key stage tests can create quantitative data that can be used in league tables.
  • Meaning that schools can be compared against each other by parents based on whether attainment targets have been met.
  • Gillborn and Youdell found that a system of educational triage focussed on dividing students into 3 groups: 'non-urgent cases'(5 GCSEs), 'suitable for treatment' (C/D borderline) and 'hopeless cases' (likely to fail).
• Testing attainment goals

  • The national curriculum being put in place, and everyone being taught the same thing means that key stage tests can create quantitative data that can be used in league tables.
  • Meaning that schools can be compared against each other by parents based on whether attainment targets have been met.
  • Gillborn and Youdell found that a system of educational triage focused on dividing students into three groups: those likely to achieve 5 GCSEs ‘non-urgent cases’, those at the C/D borderline as ‘suitable cases for treatment’ and likely to fail were ‘hopeless cases.’
• Evaluation of testing attainment goals

  • The over focus on SATs, GCSEs and A levels meant much of the focus on teaching is based on getting students to pass their exams, teaching therefore became exam driven and teachers would ‘teach to the test’ as league tables were published on the results.
  • This often caused students’ distress about exams and lead to mental health issues. 
• League tables and inspections

  • League tables were introduced to judge the performance of schools to ensure they achieve good results.
  • Good league table rankings attract parents and school inspections became more frequent and the reports more easily accessible to parents.
• Evaluation of league tables and inspections

  • Further influenced social class divide
  • Bartlett believed league tables encouraged cream skimming which means selecting the best while leaving the rest behind
  • This meant the good schools could be more selective, chose their own customers and recruit high achieving mainly middle class pupils.
  • These pupils have an advantage
  • However, as a result, some schools went into a spiral of decline
  • Silt-shifting means good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results
  • Schools with poor league tables can't be selective
• Parental choice

  • Forces better performance of school due to the policies of marketisation.
  • Miriam David described marketisation as parentocracy, which literally means rule by the parents.
  • The power is with the consumer, the parent.
• Gerwitz and Ball evaluation of parental choice

  • Marketisation is aimed at promoting competition between schools which only benefits the middle class as they have cultural and economic capital to make developed decision making to access good schools.
• Gerwitz study on 3 types of parents

  • Studied several London secondary schools and interviewed teachers, headteachers and parents to identify 3 main types of parents.
  • Privileged school choosers - middle class, negotiate their way through the education system, took full advantage of the choice available.
  • Semi skilled choosers - lacked cultural and economic capital. Didn't understand admissions procedures and relied on others opinions.
  • Disconnected local choosers - attached the importance of closeness to home over exam league tables as their funds were limited.
• Pierre Bourdieu parental choice

  • Argues there are 4 different types of capital which can affect achievement in the education system and how skilled you would be at choosing the correct schools for your children
  • Cultural - knowledge, attitudes and values of the dominant culture. Middle class children are socialised into.
  • Economic - ownership of wealth, includes buying a house in catchment area of a good school
  • Social - social contacts, 'who you know' ie teachers/headteachers to help with good admissions
  • Symbolic - middle class children are from the same habits which the system values
• Ball - The myth of parentocracy

  • Marketisation only gives the appearance of parentocracy but actually it is a myth for working class parents who don't have any economic or cultural capital to negotiate their way through the system.
  • Marketisation reproduces class inequality as working class parents have no choice.
• Sue Palmer - toxic childhood

  • Argues that technological and social changes have made modern childhood 'toxic', and testing in education is part of the problem.
  • Testing in education increases anxieties amongst young people.
  • The decline of outdoor play has been linked to obesity. This links to the idea that from 4 years old, children are living in the shadow of SATs and there is no time for outdoor play