A-level sociology education: policies in education

tripartite system, different educational policies

what is the comprehensive system?

a system created that was meant to overcome the class divide created by the tripartite system-its aim was to make education truly meritocratic and ensure that all pupils get equal education

what is the problem with the comprehensive system?

setting and streaming causes self-fulfilling prophecy and labelling

based on catchment area and high flyers are held back by lower ability pupils and vice versa

what type of schools does the tripartite consist of?

grammar school

secondary modern school

technical modern school

what is a grammar school?

student has to pass IQ test 11+

academic education- often including classics

mainly middle class in some areas more places boys than girls

what is a secondary modern school?

failing 11+

less academic than grammar schools much more emphasis on practical and vocational subjects

mainly working class not many students went on to university

what is a technical school?

aptitude for technical subjects

emphasising technical, vocational subjects

variety of backgrounds eg skilled working class, more boys than girls

what are the issues with the tripartite system?

causes separation and neglects the pupils who did not achieve the best results

reproduces class inequality

reproduces gender inequality, requiring girls to obtain higher marks in order to receive a spot in grammar schools

when was the tripartite system created?

1944

when was the comprehensive system created?

1965

what are the pros of the tripartite system?

every student gets a chance of having an education even if they dont do well in the 11+ exam, different abilities gte the support they need

what are the pros of the comprehensive system?

everyone can attend no matter of their ability or social class

no entrance exam- fairly treated

what is the education reform act and what year was it established?

it was established in 1988 and was passed by the new right(conservative) government it was meant to centralise education in the UK and encourage consistency throughout the country- everyone received equality of educational opportunities

what is the national curriculum?

a centralised curriculum which all state schools had to follow and included compulsory subjects that must be studied

what test did the 1988 act introduce?

SATs which was to be taken at the ages 7,11 and 14

what is marketisation?

marketisation refers to the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between schools

what are some examples of marketisation?

publication of league tables

ofsted inspection

business sponsorships of schools

open enrolment

specialist schools (IT, lang, sport)

formula funding

what is parentocracy?

when parents are in charge of the education system as they are the primary consumers

what did Miriam David say about marketisation?

she stated that schools are ruled by parents due to the marketisation of education as schools power moves from the school itself and onto the parents creating 'parentocracy'

eg- parents pay for fees and are treated like customers like paying for university and they pick what school they want their child to attend

what did Ball and Whitty say about marketisation?

they argue that marketisation and parentocracy reproduces class inequalities

what does Barlett say about marketisation?

he argued that to ensure that schools achieve good results and stay in good position in the league tables, schools will try to 'breed success' in 2 ways: cream-skimming and silt shifting

what is cream-skimming and self shifting?

cream skimming means when schools select high achieving students in order to be more selective by parents

silt shifting means when schools avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the school's reputation

what is formula funding?

when schools are allocated funds based on how many students they attract- this gives the popular schools more money to be able to afford better facilities, equipment and staff

what did Sue Gerwitz say about parental choice?

she identified 3 types of parents with varying levels of economic and cultural capital

• privileged skilled choosers: which are mainly middle class professional workers who used their economic and cultural capital to gain educational capital for their children

disconnected local choosers: working class parents who's choices are restricted by cultural and economic capital

semi-skilled chooser: parents who are mainly working class but had ambition for their children but lack cultural capital

what is cultural capital?

the social and cultural advantages that some individuals possess- linked to having more money and status

what is economic capital?

the material wealth and financial assets an individual or family owns- income

what is educational policy?

refers to the plans and strategies for education introduced by the government

what are education action zones?

a policy that was introduced in the UK in the late 1990s as a way to improve educational standards in disadvantaged area- targeted areas with high levels of poverty and low educational achievement, aim was to support schools and communities

what was the positives of the education action zones?

they we're able to reduce inequality by providing additional resources to the schools in the area, financial support helped these schools to enhance facilities, create programs and support students needs overall improving the quality of teir education

what was the disadvantages of the education action zones?

while the policy was showing improvements in academic outcomes for students, other studies showed that the policy wasn't as effective in the long term- critics challenged the record of the policy in enhancing student achievement and found that the results they claimed were uneven and inconsistent with schools both surpassing and failing below national levels

what is the education maintenance allowance?

a financial scheme that was applicable too students aged 16-19 years and its purpose was to help cover the day to day costs you have to meet when you stay on at a school or college- books, travel costs ands equipment

what was the positives of the education maintenance allowance?

it led to an increase in full time education participation amongst 16-17 year olds and reduced youth crime

what was the negatives to the education maintenance allowance?

it was too costly for the government to fund so they scrapped it

what did the 2010 coalition government do for the raising of the school leaving age?

the age of when people could leave school was increased to 18 and all young people had to attend mandatory schooling or training until the academic year

what did the 2012 coalition government do for pupil premium?

an additional funding for publicly funded schools and it was designed to help disadvantaged pupils of all abilities perform better and close the gap

funding special need schools, pru's for children who can't go to mainstream schools and funding for free school meals

what did the 2010 coalition policy do for raising tuition fees?

all universities in England are charging 9,000 per year from 2012 as the government transfers many costs from the state to the students - the fee increases caused a tragedy for young generations

what did the 2010 government do for free school meals

in 2014 every child in the first 3 years of school would have been eligible for free school meals- the goal was to help every child from every background 16500 schools had this policy it helped families save £4000 per year

children received better nutrition and did better in school

what did the 2010 coalition government do for different types of schools?

different schools such as academies and free schools were created to create a more autonomous and diverse school system that offered parents the choice and concentration on improving standards

continued to encourage primary and secondary schools to become academies as well as encouraging strong academies to work with weaker schools to raise standards

matched under-performing schools to the sponsors with the strongest track record in raising standards

what did the 2010 coalition government do for EBBAC?

EBBAC is a set of subjects at GCSE that keeps young people's options open for further study and future careers- secondary schools are measured on the number of pupils that take GCSE in these core subjects and how well their pupils do in these subjects

what did the new labour government do for sure start?

it was established in the 1990s Labour Party with a mission to help disadvantaged backgrounds before they started school- more than 350 sure start children's centres have closed in England since 2010 as it was expensive for the government to maintain

it was a disadvantage for poorer family students

what did the 2010 coalition government do for AS and A levels?

new AS and a-levels will be taught in schools in England from september 2015 AS results will no longer count towards an A-level- gives students who want to leave sixth form a partial qualification, however getting a qualification is harder now

what is privatisation?

means the transfer of ownership from the government (public) to private companies

eg schools have to pay companies for books, class charts etc

what is public-private partnership?

when private companies provide money to design, build, finance and operate schools, contracts last 25 years or more local council has to pay a monthly lease and fees out of public funds- this is very profitable for the companies involved

what is blurring the public/private boundary?

when senior officials in the public sectors such as directors of local authorities and head teachers have to set up work for private sector education business- they then bid for contracts to provide those services to schools and local authorities

what did Allyson Pollack say about blurring the public/private boundary?

she noted that the flow of personnel allows companies to buy 'insider knowledge' to help win contracts

what is the privatisation and the globalisation of educational policy?

when many private companies in the education services industry are foreign owned, according to Ball, some Pearson GCSE exams are now marked in Sydney and Iowa

according to Buckingham and Scanlon the UKs 4 leading educational software companies are all owned by global multinational

what is exogenous and endogenous privatisation in education?

exogenous is privatisation from outside the education system and endogenous is from the inside of the education system

what policies did the education reform act enforce?

national curriculum

ofsted inspection

youth training schemes

SATs

grant maintenance

what policies did the new labour government enforce?

education action zones

education maintenance

sure start

vocational qualifications

city academies

formula funding

what policies did the coalition government enforce?

pupil premium

free school meal

EBBAC

academies bill

increased tuition

what year is new labour government?

1997-2010