Education Policies & Globalisation

1944 Butler Act (Tripartite)

Created Grammar (academic), Secondary Modern (practical), and Technical schools based on the 11-plus exam.

Criticism of Tripartite System

Reproduced class inequality; middle-class children were more likely to pass; 11-plus created "success/failure" labels.

Comprehensive Reforms (1965)

Replaced selection with schools for all abilities to promote equality of opportunity.

Criticism of Comprehensives

Inequality continued internally through streaming/setting and "selection by mortgage" (postcodes).

1988 Education Reform Act

Introduced Marketisation, the National Curriculum, Ofsted, and League Tables to drive competition.

New Labour (1997-2010) Goals

Combined marketisation with compensatory education (Sure Start, EMA) to reduce inequality.

EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance)

Financial support for disadvantaged 16–18-year-olds to encourage them to stay in education.

Coalition/Conservative (2010+)

Focus on Academisation (moving schools away from local authority control) and creating Free Schools.

Education Marketisation

Schools act like businesses competing for "customers" (parents), driven by league table rankings.

Policy Borrowing

Governments adopt educational ideas from other countries that perform well in international rankings like PISA.

Globalisation & Privatisation

The growth of "edu-businesses" where private companies provide testing, tutoring, and school management.

Globalisation: Skills Agenda

Education policies focus on Human Capital—training a workforce with STEM and tech skills for the global market.

Multicultural Education

A response to global migration, aiming to include diverse cultures in the curriculum (though critics say it can be tokenistic).