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Sociology AQA A-Level - Paper 1
What did the 2010 Academies Act do?
Made it possible for all state schools to become academies
How much money was spent on education before 1833?
Before 1833, the state spent no public money on education
How did industrialisation influence the need for education? How did the state respond?
Industrialisation increased the need for an educated workforce.
1880- made education compulsory for children aged 5-13
How did the schooling of the middle class and working class differ before 1988?
Middle class were given a curriculum to help prepare them for careers in the professions or work office.
Working class were given a schooling to equip them with the basic numeracy and literacy skills needed for routine factory work and to instil in them an obedient attitude to their superiors.
1944 - education being influenced by meritocracy
What act established the tripartite system?
What is the tripartite system?
1944 Butler Act - tripartite system
Children selected/allocated to three different types of secondary schools after taking the 11+ exams (based on abilities)
What schools were created by the tripartite system?
Grammar schools - Passed 11+ (mainly middle class) academic curriculum, access to higher education, non-manual jobs
Secondary modern schools - (mainly working class) ‘practical’ curriculum, manual work for those who failed 11+
Technical schools - vocational schools that teach specialised skills practically
(reproduced and legitimised inequality)
1965 onwards - comprehensive school system
aimed to overcome class divisions and make the education system more meritocratic.
abolition of grammar schools
comprehensive schools where every child would attend
Optional to ‘go comprehensive’, so many did not comply with abolishing all grammar schools / secondary modern schools
Functionalist perspective on comprehensive schools
Promote social integration by bringing children of different social classes together
eval: Ford - little social mixing between wc and mc because of streaming
More meritocratic - gives pupils a longer period to develop and show abilities (unlike tripartite system)
Marxist perspective on comprehensive schools
not meritocratic, reproduce and legitimise inequality throughout generations through processes like streaming - deny the wc equal opportunity
‘Myth of meritocracy’ - Bowles and Gintis
comprehensives may appear to offer equal chances to all.
legitimates class inequality by making unequal achievement seem fair and just, because failure looks like it is the fault of the individual rather than the system
What is marketisation?
Process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state
How has marketisation created an ‘education market’?
reducing state control over education
increasing both competition between schools and parental choice of schools
Marketisation was favoured most prominently when?
1988 Education Reform Act - Conservatives (MT)
1997 - New Labour (TB, GB) - emphasise standards, diversity and choice
2010 - Conservative/Lib Dem coalition - creating academies and free schools
Why do neoliberals and New Right favour marketisation?
they argue marketisation means schools have to attract customers (parents) by competing with each other in the market.
Schools that provide customers with what they want - such as success in exams - will thrive and those that don’t will ‘go out of business’
What are some policies to promote marketisation?
publication of league tables and Ofsted inspections
business sponsorship of schools
open enrolment
specialist schools
formula funding
schools allowed to opt out of local authority control
schools having to compete to attract pupils
introduction of tuition fees for higher education
allowing parents and others to set up free schools
Parentocracy (David)
‘rule by parents’, power shifts away from schools (producers) to parents (consumers). This encourages diversity among schools, more choice from parents to raise standards
What does Ball and Whitty argue about marketisation policies?
(Marxists)
marketisation policies reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities between schools
e.g funding formula (determining how much money should be allocated to schools) and exam league tables
What does Bartlett argue about league tables?
encourages:
cream-skimming; “Good” schools are more selective when choosing pupils, ultimately choosing the best of the bunch (mainly mc)
silt-shifting;' “Good” schools can avoid taking less abled students to prevent damage to their league position (mainly wc)
(reproduces inequality) → unequal schools
schools with poor league positions; less selective, wc students taken on board, unattractive to mc parents
Funding Formula
schools allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they attract
popular schools = more funds (mc oriented, can access better facilities and better qualified teacher)
unpopular schools = less funds (wc oriented, fail to gain more funding)
EG. Public Policy Research (2012) - competition-oriented education systems produce more segregation between children of different social backgrounds
Gerwitz: Parental choice
Study of 14 London secondary schools; differences in parents’ economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far they can exercise choice of secondary school.
privileged- skilled choosers: mc parents, educated enough to decide on schools for their children, possess cultural capital/economic capital
disconnected- local choosers: wc parents, choices restricted by lack of cultural/economic capital, distance and cost of travel influenced choice (catchment areas)
semi-skilled choosers: mainly wc, ambitious for children, lacked cultural capital, rely on others’ opinions, frustrated they can’t get them into a decent school
Myth of parentocracy (Ball)
Makes it appear that all parents have the same freedom to choose which school to send their child to. By disguising the fact that schooling continues to reproduce class inequality in this way, the myth of parentocracy makes inequality in education appear fair and inevitable.
Gerwitz - mc parents better able to take advantage of choices available
Leech and Campos - they can afford to move into the catchment areas of more desirable schools
New Labour policies to reduce inequality (1997-2010)
Education Access Zones - additional resources
Aim Higher programme - raise aspirations for underrepresented groups
Educational Maintenance Allowances - payments to students from low economic backgrounds to encourage them to stay in education post 16 yrs
National Literacy Strategy - literacy and numeracy hours in primary school and reducing primary school class sizes
City academies - fresh start to struggling inner-city schools with mainly wc pupils
increased funding for state education
Coalition government policies (2010) - academies
schools encouraged to leave local authority control & become academies (had control over curriculum)
removed focus on reducing inequality
2012 - half of secondary schools converted to academy status, run by private educational businesses (some) and funded by the state
Conservative government policies (2010) - free schools
