educational policy

• what year was the education act?

  1944
• what did the education act introduce?

  the tripartite system
• what was the tripartite system?

  children say the 11+ exams in their final year of primary school which determined whether they would go to one of the 3 types of secondary school
• what were the 3 types of secondary school

  grammar, secondary modern & technical
• grammar schools


  designed for pupils who passed the 11+ exam

  for high achievers

  follows academic curriculum
• secondary modern schools 


  non-academic curriculum

  focus on preparation for work e.g typing classes for females & woodwork for males
• technical schools


  only a few of these existed

  skills based e.g car engineering
• strength of tripartite system

  seen to be fair and meritocratic as based on ability rather than judgements on background/social class
• limitation of tripartite system

  • girls had to get a higher score than boys to attend a grammar school

  • some children may not be academically ready - september born children have an advantage over august born children

  • 11+ benefits the middle class - working class families don’t have resources to prepare for the exam
• what year was the comprehensive school system introduced?

  1965
• what was the comprehensive school system policy?

  • abolished 11+ exams

  • replaced grammar & secondary modern schools with comprehensive schools that would be attended by all pupils in the area

  • provided pupils with same educational experience regardless of social class
• strength of comprehensive school system?

  functionalists would support as all students are together - reinforced social solidarity

  supports meritocracy
• limitation of comprehensive school system?

  • marxists argue meritocracy is a myth

  • streaming and setting still exist so couldn’t prevent labelling in schools

  • working class pupils lack cultural capital of middle class education system
• what year was the education reform act?

  1988
• what did the education reform act do?

  introduced marketisation - policies that create competition between schools - schools have to attract ‘customers’ (parents) to send their children there
• examples of marketisation policies

  • league tables - rank each school based on exam performance

  • open enrolment - pupils could go to any school within their area rather than restricted to catchment areas

  • national curriculum - all schools teach the same subjects for ages 5-16

  • SATs introduced & O levels combined with CSE exams to produce GCSE’s

  • formula funding - based on number of enrolled pupils - set amount of finance allocated for each pupil

  • OFSTED inspections - ensure educational standards are met
• how do marketisation policies encourage competition

  schools must improve standards to attract pupils and parents to improve funding
• strengths of marketisation


  • supported by functionalists - raising standards equates to better achievement for all pupils - meritocracy

  • national curriculum creates social solidarity
• limitations of marketisation


  • marxists argue cream skimming and silt shifting still evident

  • wc parents may not be able to access better schools

  • lack of funding for poorer areas leading to school closures
• gerwitz - parental choice 


  marketisation policies benefit middle class parents who have a better position to choose the best schools.

  identified 3 types of parents:

  • privileged-skilled choosers - professional middle class, possess cultural capital

  • disconnected-local choosers - working class - lack cultural capital

  • semi-skilled choosers - ambitious working class - limited cultural capital

  middle class parents possess greater cultural and economic capital so have greater choice than working class parents
• Ball - myth of parentocracy


  marketisation policies legitimatise class inequalities by concealing its true cause

  • the idea that parents have a free choice of school is a myth as working class parents don’t have the same access to schools as middle class parents

  • average home is £15,800 higher when close to the best performing high schools and £18,600 to best primary schools
• when were new labour policies?

  1997-2010
• what policies did the new labour government introduce to reduce inequality?

  • education maintenance allowance - provided pupils from poor backgrounds additional income to support them with their studies if they attended lessons

  • smaller class sizes - primary classes set to less than 30 pupils to allow more individual teacher attention to assist each pupil

  • raised school leaving age - ensured all children stayed in education longer
• problems with new labour inequality policies?

  • things like EMA leads to classrooms filled with unmotivated pupils attending purely for their allowance

  • class sizes reduced in primary schools just increased sizes in secondary schools so the problem was shifted rather than resolved

  • raising school leaving age doesn’t address issues with truancy or anti-social behaviour
• what were new labour policies to create diversity & choice?

  • introduction of academies - encouraged failing schools to become partly/entirely funded by external investors e.g businesses - aimed to improve resources to raise standards

  • introduction of specialist schools - schools encouraged to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to offer parents greater choice & boost achievement
• problems with policies increasing choice & diversity?

  • businesses may be unequipped to deal with education & the issues that come with it

  • specialist schools received additional funding from the government which suggests improvement was based on this rather than their curriculum specialism
• problems with new labour policies

  • private school system means those with money can still get their children a better education - benefits middle classes

  • schools too test focused reducing real diversity of educational experience - students taught to the test & less able to think critically
• when was the coalition government?

  2010-2015
• what did the coalition government do?

  • invited all secondary schools to apply for academy status

  • encouraged parents & charity groups to create “free schools”

  • abolished EMA & replaced with a bursary for poorest students

  • increased university tuition fees to £9,000 a year

  • increased class sizes to 31 to accommodate for population growth
• free schools


  • set up by groups of parents, teachers, charities etc

  • set up as academies & funded directly from government

  • appoint their own governing body & design their own curriculum

  • set up in response to local demands - need a petition from parents in the area naming the school as their first choice
• problems with free schools

  • have the freedom to employ teachers who do not have a teaching qualification which could be an issue

  • issues surrounding the curriculum being taught
• what has promoting academies and free schools led to?

  • most involve private providers that lead to greater inequality in opportunities

  • rapid growth has reduced the role of elected local authorities in education as these are funded by central government
• evaluation of coalition government policies

  • critics argue cutting EMA reduced opportunities for working class pupils

  • increased university fees may discourage working classes from entering higher education
• the privatisation of education 


  • private companies increasingly more involved in the education service industry e.g building schools, providing supply teachers & OFSTED inspection services

  • academic qualifications were previously controlled by university academics now privatised e.g edexcel & pearson
• arguments for privatisation 


  • new right - argue state run education is inefficient - believe states involvement leads to bureaucratic self interest & low standards

  • chubb & moe - argue privatisation would allow teachers to worry about the classroom but draw on the expertise of entrepreneurs for everything else thus improving standards

  • private companies used to keeping costs down & will run certain aspects more efficiently
• arguments against privatisation


  • marxists majorly critical

  • may change the type of knowledge pupils are taught e.g more emphasis placed on maths & less on humanities

  • ‘cola-isation’ - increasingly penetrates schools through vending machines & brand loyalty
• globalisation of education


  • education now more multi cultural e.g teach the ‘six world religions’ in RE

  • globalisation named a syllabus topic in several subjects e.g geography & media studies

  • schools have legal duty to follow “prevent agenda” to address radicalisation & extremism

  • global ICT companies now involved in things like online learning

  • educators need to prepare students for new requirements on the use of technology

  • global league tables demonstrates performance of whole countries rather than just schools
• criticism of globalisation of education

  • expensive and short lived policies

  • issues with validity and reliability of testing

  • issues with funding and places for non-british students in university