Coalition Policies

• Academies

  • From 2010 all schools were encouraged to leave local authority control and become academies - funding given direct by the government and were given control over their curriculum
  • By 2012, over half of secondary schools had converted to academy status
  • However, where Labour's original city academies targeted disadvantaged schools and areas, Coalition removed the focus of reducing inequality
• Free schools

  • Set up and run by parents, teachers, faith organisations or businesses rather than the local authority - supporters say they improve educational standards by taking control of the state and giving power to parents
  • EVALUATION - Rebecca Allen argues that free schools in Sweden (20%) show that they only benefit children from highly educated families
  • They also take fewer disadvantaged pupils than nearby schools
• The English Baccalaureate

  • 2010 - 'core curriculum' introduced to secondary schools - EBacc
  • Reccomended students take GCSEs in five subjects - English, maths, a science, history or geography and a modern language
  • 2015 - conservative government made EBacc compulsory as it 'provided a rigorous academic education' and a broad and balanced curriculum
  • Growing concern for decline of GCSE entries in science subjects, modern languages and history
  • Performance measure alongside Progress 8
• Evaluation of EBacc

  • Leaves less room for vocational subjects such as DT and creative subjects such as music and art - however, 2011 to 2016 number of entries for art subjects rose
  • Allen and Thompson compared students who studied under the EBacc and those who didn't - overall students benefitted from the changes with improved results in English and Maths
  • However headteachers had concerns - felt that EBacc was not suitable for every student
• FSM and Pupil Premium

  • FSM for all children in reception, year 1 and year 2 - improves health and diet for disadvantaged pupils (working class) and improves absence at school (link to material deprivation)
  • Pupil premium - money that schools receive for each pupil from a disadvantaged background
  • EVALUATION - Ofsted 2012 found that in many cases, Pupil Premium is not spent on those it is supposed to help - only 1 in 10 head teachers said it had significantly changed how they supported pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Progress 8

  • Measure of secondary school performance introduced in 2016 and aims to measure progress from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school
  • Predicts students GCSE results on the basis of Key Stage 2 results at the end of primary school
  • Predicted grade for each student based on the average GCSE grade of all students nationally who had a similar score at Key Stage 2
  • Every increase a student achieves over their predicted grades will add additional points to a school's performance table
• Progress 8 Evaluation

  • Every student counts and can all add points to the school's performance tables
  • Takes no account that some schools are located in disadvantaged areas with many students coming from low income families - is it reasonable to judge these schools on the same basis as schools nationally which have a larger proportion of students from higher income families?
  • Allen conducted a study of 7000 students and research indicated that coming from a poor family more than doubled chances of missing out on the top GCSE grades