Education Policies

What are the four aims of educational policy?

• Educational Equality: 

  • All individuals should have equal access to and opportunity within the educational system, regardless of factors like socioeconomic background, ethnicity, gender, or other social characteristics

• Marketisation: 

  • A trend in education policy from the 1980s where schools were encouraged to compete against each other and act more like private businesses rather than institutions under the control of local government.

• Raising Standards: 

  • Examining policies and their impact on student outcomes, access, and equity. Sociologists analyse how government initiatives, such as marketisation, affect education quality and how social factors influence student success

• Surporting the economy:

  • Education plays a crucial role in preparing individuals for the workforce and contributing to economic growth. This aim focuses on ensuring that the education system provides the skills and knowledge needed by employers and that students are prepared for future employment.

What are the 4 Aspects of Educational Equality identified by Gilbourn and Youdell? 

• Equality of access: 

  • All students should have an equal chance to attend schools of similar quality without being unfairly selected  

• Equality of circumstances: 

  • All students should begin school with similar home and material circumstances  

• Equality of participation: 

  • All students should have an equal chance to participate in school life  

• Educational triage: 

  • Schools should categorise students into groups based on their likelihood of success 

Which policies increase equality in education?

• 1988 Education Reform Act- National Curriculum:

  • Parental choice:

    • Open enrolment: Parents could choose a school for their child, regardless of their catchment area.

  • Diagnostic testing: Parents could use test results to choose a school for their child.

• National curriculum

  • A consistent curriculum was introduced for all state-funded schools from ages 5 to 16.

  • The curriculum was based on systems used in other European countries.

• School autonomy

  • More schools became autonomous grant-maintained schools, meaning they were no longer controlled by local authorities.

• University access

  • Universities became more accessible to non-traditional students.

• School management

  • New forms of school management were introduced outside of local authority control.

• Evaluation:

  • It aimed to increase equality in education by introducing policies like open enrolment, a national curriculum, and league tables, which theoretically gave parents more choice and held schools accountable for student performance. Still, critics argue that these mechanisms exacerbated inequality by allowing middle-class parents to select better schools, leading to a "postcode lottery" where access to high-performing schools was largely determined by geographical location and socioeconomic status, rather than truly levelling the playing field for all students;. At the same time, some standards may have risen, the gap between students from different backgrounds could widen due to this system.

• 1965- Comprehensivisation Act:

  • By merging grammar and secondary modern schools to create mixed-ability schools. The act aimed to reduce the achievement gap between social classes.

    • The act removed the 11+ exam, which previously determined which type of school a student would attend.

    • The act created schools that offered a wide range of subjects and extracurricular activities.

    • The act aimed to create a more egalitarian society by enhancing social mobility.

    • The act aimed to provide more effective teaching so that more students could complete A-level courses and move on to higher education.

• Evaluation:

  • By eliminating the selective 11+ exam, allowing all students regardless of ability to attend the same type of secondary school, thereby providing equal access to a wider range of educational opportunities and theoretically reducing social class inequalities in education; however, critics argue that while it provided more access, it did not necessarily close the achievement gap between different social groups and concerns remain about streaming within comprehensive schools which can still perpetuate inequality based on ability.

• Schools Admissions Code:

  • Fair Access Protocols (FAPs): Local authorities must implement FAPs to prioritise vulnerable children, like looked-after children or those facing difficulties securing a school place during the academic year, when allocating places in oversubscribed schools.

  • In-year admissions process: The code includes specific guidelines for managing in-year admissions, ensuring children who move during the academic year can access a school place promptly.

  • Transparency and consistency: By outlining clear criteria for school admissions, the code reduces the potential for arbitrary decisions and promotes consistency across different schools and local authorities.

  • Admissions priorities for specific groups: The code can designate priority for certain groups like children of armed forces personnel or twins, addressing specific needs.

  • Oversight and appeals: The Schools Adjudicator has the power to review and enforce the code, allowing parents to appeal decisions they believe are unfair.

What are selection and administration policies?

• 3 Types of Selection: 

  1. Selection by Catchment Area – the closer a student lives to the school, the more likely they are to get into the school. 

  2. Sibling Policies – those with brothers and sisters who already attend the school are more likely to get a place 

  3. Selection by Faith – this only applies to faith schools – faith schools may select a proportion (but not all) of their pupils on the basis of religious belief and the commitment of their parents (how often they attend church for example) 

• Arguments in Favour of Selection: 

  • Meritocracy: Selection policies can help ensure that the most qualified people are in the most skilled jobs. 

  • Link to wider society: Schools can help students move from the values of their family to the values of wider society. 

  • Investment in education: Investing in education can benefit the wider economy by creating a qualified workforce. 

• Arguments Against Selection: 

  • Reproducing inequality: Selection policies can reproduce inequality by making it harder for some groups to access education.  

  • Discouraging poorer parents: Selection policies can discourage poorer parents from applying to certain schools.  

  • Ethnocentric curriculum: Selection policies can create ethnocentric curriculums that ignore the history and culture of other groups. 

• Open Enrolment Policies and Parental Choice: 

  • Educational policies that allow parents to choose which school their child attends, regardless of their geographical catchment area, essentially creating a "market" where schools compete for students by offering different educational programs, with the aim of increasing parental choice and improving school standards; this is often considered a key aspect of "marketisation" policies in education. 

  • The idea is that parents should have more control over their children's education. It's also known as "parent power" or "parentocracy” 

• Over Subscription Policies: 

  • They are used in schools when there are more applicants than available places. These policies help ensure that certain groups of students are prioritised for admission. 

• Covert Selection: 

  • Tough and Brooks: 

    • The process where schools seemingly use non-academic criteria to indirectly select students of higher ability, essentially "cherry-picking" pupils by creating barriers that discourage lower socio-economic families from applying, even when the school claims to have an open admissions policy; this can include things like high uniform costs, complex application procedures, or promoting an image that might not appeal to certain demographics.  

What is marketisation?

The process of introducing market principles to areas that were previously non-market based. It involves competition, consumer choice, and profit orientation. 

What is privatisation in education?

When schools operate more like private businesses, rather than being run by the government. This can happen when schools are given more autonomy and compete for students 

What is privatisation of education?

The process of transferring state-owned education to private companies. This can include the design, management, or delivery of education. 

What is parentocracy?

The idea that the parents are in charge of the education system. It refers particularly to the marketisation policies of 1988 and subsequently which aimed to give parents significantly more choice over their children's education. 

What are three features of marketisation?

1. Independence: Schools are given more control over how they run themselves, including what they offer and who they admit.  

2. Competition: Schools are encouraged to compete with each other for students, which is intended to improve the quality of education.  

3. Choice: Parents and students are given more choice in where to go to school. This increased choice has led to the creation of a "parentocracy", where parents have more control over their child's schooling.  

What are three elements of quality control?

1. Establishing Clear Standards: This involves defining specific criteria for data collection, analysis, and interpretation, ensuring consistency across researchers and projects within a field.  

2. Monitoring Data Collection Methods: This means actively checking the research process to identify potential biases, errors, or inconsistencies in how data is gathered, including participant selection and interview techniques.  

3. Implementing Feedback Mechanisms: This involves creating systems to receive and respond to feedback from peers, participants, or other stakeholders to identify areas for improvement and address any concerns about research quality 

What is a positive evaluation?

• Competition: Private schools can compete with each other to improve standards and raise quality  

• Better standards: Private schools can have higher academic standards and better performance  

• More choices: Parents have more options for their children's education  

• Better accountability: Private schools can have more robust accountability mechanisms for student achievement  

• Global competitiveness: Privatised education systems can give students an advantage in the global economy 

What is a negative evaluation?

• Inequalities: Privatisation can lead to more inequalities in education  

• Discrimination: Private schools may discourage children from poorer and disadvantaged families  

• Profit over education: Money may be drained from education and into private profit  

• Cherry-picking: Private companies may take over the best schools, leaving the worst for the state to run  

• Cola-isation: Large companies may influence children from an early age to purchase their products and services 

Which policies promote marketisation and raising standards?

• Conservative Government (1979-1997): 

  • Marketisation Policies: 

    • League tables: Ranked schools by performance, allowing parents to compare schools and choose the best one for their child 

    • Open enrolment: Allowed successful schools to recruit more pupils 

    • Funding formulas: Schools received funding based on the number of students enrolled, encouraging schools to improve standards to attract more students 

    • Academies: Schools could opt out of local education authority control and become academies 

    • Free schools: Parents and others could set up free schools funded directly by the state 

• Raising Standards Policies: 

  • Funding  

    • Pupil premium: Extra money for disadvantaged pupils 

    • Apprenticeships: 100% funding for 16–18-year-olds 

    • Independent Schools Sponsored Academies: Private schools provide funding, resources, and training to academies 

  • Curriculum  

    • English Baccalaureate (EBacc): Encouraged schools to shift to the EBacc 

    • National Curriculum Reform: Academies were exempt from the reform 

    • Exam reform: New-style GCSE, AS, and A levels 

  • School discipline  

    • Head teachers and teachers have more powers to maintain discipline 

    • Schools are encouraged to introduce school uniforms, house systems, and prefect systems 

    • The process of school exclusion is streamlined 

• Labour Government (1997-2010): 

  • Marketisation Policies: 

    • City academies: New Labour introduced city academies.  

    • Specialist schools: New Labour expanded the role of specialist schools, which can select 10% of their students based on aptitude.  

    • Tuition fees: New Labour established tuition fees.  

    • Diversified education system: New Labour diversified the education system through the growth of faith schools.  

What is the evaluation of marketisation policies and raising standards?

• Myth of Parentocracy: 

  • A sociological concept that argues that meritocracy is not widely attainable in capitalist societies. It suggests that meritocracy is an ideology that perpetuates inequality and a false class consciousness. 

• Educational Triage: 

  • It describes how schools categorise students based on their predicted academic performance. The goal is to allocate resources to students who need the most help, and to identify students who are unlikely to benefit from additional support. 

• Dumbing Down: 

  • The practice of simplifying intellectual content to appeal to less educated audiences. It can involve undermining critical thinking and academic standards. 

• Reduced Quality Control: 

  • It can impact the quality of teaching and learning and the ability to prepare graduates for the jobs they need