educational policies

1880 compulsory education act

* provided state run elementary schools for 5-13 year old’s.
* it aimed to teach basic literacy, numeracy and morality
* however the type of education people received was dependent on social class
* it was not until 1944 that education began to be shaped by the idea of meritocracy

1944 education act (tripartite system)

* aimed to give equal chance to develop individual ability
* a national test for 11 Y/O was introduced called the 11+ which allocated students to one of three types of secondary schools:
* **Grammar school**: offered academia and access to non manual jobs. 20% of school population went to this school and were mainly middle class
* **Technical schools**: these were intended for children who were good at technical subjects. these schools emphasized vocational training and technical skills. these were attended by 5% of the population.
* **Secondary modern schools:** less academic and more practical. gave access to manual work students who attended here were working class.

criticisms of 11+

* 11 + was unreliable you cannot predict someones future at 11
* selection process was unfair
* there was no equality of status
* social class division

comprehensive 1960s

* it was believed that everyone should have an equal chance to succeed and providing equality of educational opportunity. as such the 11+ was abolished along with grammar schools and secondary modern schools

1966 labour government changes

* by 1979 80% of secondary pupils were attending comprehensives
* functionalists believe this makes job selection in future more meritocratic as people have more of an equal chance
* marxists see education as serving the interests of capitalism reproducing and legitimising class inequality

criticisms of comprehensive system

* streaming - streaming may lead to self fulfilling prophecy in which the achievements of pupils in lower streams deteriorate
* labelling - labelling working class pupils can negatively affect the working class.
* comprehensives have legitimated inequality with the myth of meritocracy

1988 education reform act

* established national curriculum for all state schools
* introduced a national testing system
* reduced the role of LEA’s by giving greater control to schools and funding bodies
* established city tech colleges
* parents were given a choice and schools were funded depending on the amount of ‘bums on seats’

marketisation

* 1988 education reform established the principle of marketisation.
* refers to the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers run by the state
* the process of marketisation has been continued by governments that followed thatcher

new right beliefs in education

* the education system isn’t achieving its goals
* education is failing as it is run by the state
* it is an unresponsive and inefficient system as it doesn’t respond to consumer demands

role of state in education (NR)

* standards in education will be improved if the role of the state is reduced
* the state should only interfere to impose a frame work on schools within which they have to compete i.e publishing ofrsted reports and league tables
* the state should transmit a shared culture imposing a national curriculum
* education should affirm the national identity and integrate students into single set of traditions

NR and educational competition

* schools should compete to attract students so that parents want to send their kids to the best local schools.
* this competition between school will empower the consumers bringing diversity, choice and efficiency to education and above all meeting the needs of pupils and parents

Chubb and Moe

* American state education has failed and should be open to market forces of supply and demand
* it has failed because it does not create equality of opportunity
* the state education system is a failure and that private education is better because it is answerable to the fee paying consumers.

Chubb and Moe voucher system

* each family should be given a voucher to spend on buying education from the school of their choice
* this will force schools to be responsive to parents and therefore schools will have to work to improve standards and attract consumers
* privatization of state education would be beneficial as they conducted a survey and found that pupils from low income families consistently did 5% better in private schools.

policies introduced to promote marketisation in education

* publication of exam league tables and ofsted reports informing parents of the best schools
* business sponsorship of schools
* open enrolment allowing successful schools to recruit more pupils from outside their catchment
* formula funding - schools receive the same amount of funding for each pupil so therefore encouraging schools to recruit more pupils to gain more funding
* schools have been able to opt out of LEA control, gaining funding from central government and giving individual schools greater control over their budget.
* introduction of tuition fees for higher education
* allowing parents and others to set up free schools giving parents, charities and churches more involvement in education.

parentocracy

‘rule by parents’ (David 1993)

* power has shifted from the producers of education (teachers/schools) to the consumers (parents). it is claimed this will encourage diversity, choice, meet the needs of pupils and raise standards.

Ball (1994) marketisation

* marketisation reproduces and legitimates inequality through league tables and formula funding
* marketisation has increased social class inequalities
* only middle class parents can take advantage of choice using their cultural and economic capital

the myth of parentocracy

* marketisation produces inequality but it also legitimates it by concealing its true causes.
* marketisation gives the appearance of a parentocracy
* this is actually a myth as not all parents have a choice
* MC parents have more economic and cultural capital so are able to do things such as move into desirable catchment areas.

Bartlett (1993)

* argues marketisation leads to popular schools
* cream skimming: sleelcting higher ability pupils who gain the best results and cost less to teach
* silt-shifting: off loading pupils with learning difficulties who are expensive to teach and get poor results

new vocationalism 1970s/80s

* vocational education is work related study in which learners acquire job specific knowledge and skills.
* this aims to establish close links between education and the economy
* working class and ethnic minority students are over represented in vocational courses. white middle class students tend to pick the A level route

examples of vocational qualifications

* NVQ’s 1986 followed by GNVQ’s 1995
* 1997 new deal - all under 25’s receiving benefits were required to take up subsidised job or voluntary work or full time education/training
* 2001 - labour re-branded GNVQ’s as vocational GCSE’s and vocational A levels to raise their status

reasons for vocational training

* late 70s the conservative government were keen to develop an education system which met the needs of industry and to raise standards through Britains school and colleges
* 70s there was a rise in youth unemployment so Thatcher felt the move to vocationalism was necessary
* it was argued that schools were producing young people who lacked the skills required by industries
* industry suffering from skills shortage
* new vocationalism would provide the economy with skilled workforce and led to direct gov involvement with youth training