Topic 6 Educational Policy and Inequality

What 4 issues is educational policy usually a response to?

• Equal opportunity

• Selection and choice

• Control of edcuation

• Marketisation and privatisation

What was educational policy like in Britain before 1988? ( 4 KEY DATES)

• Before 1833- State spent no public money on education, it was provided by fee paying schools for the wealthy and churches or charities for the poor

• 1880- Schooling was made compulsory for ages 5-13 due to industrialisation, as the UK now required an educated workforce

• 1944- Influence of meritocracy on policy introduced by Labour. The 1944 Education Act put forward the tripartite system. There were 3 types of schools Grammar schools ( prepared for university) Secondary modern ( practical curriculum prepared for manual labour) and technical schools (few existed)

• 1965- the 11+ was abolished and comprehensive schools were inteoduced to replace grammar schools secondary modern. This was upto local councils to choose secondary modern and grammar schools so divides still existed

How did the tripartite system reinforce inequality ( class and gender )?

• The tripartite system reinforced class inequality as it channelled pupulsnfrom different social classes into different schools. Unequal opportunities were justified as education was based on ‘meritocracy’.

• Girls had to score higher than boys on their 11+ to secure a spot at a grammar school

What did Ford argue?

The comprehensive system failed to reduce inequality as there was still little social integration present between different social classes due to streaming in comprehensive schools

Define marketisation.

• Marketisation refers to the introduction of matket forces of consumer choice and promoting competition between suppliers

What was introduced in 1988 and by who?

• In 1998 the Education Reform act was introduced by Margaret Thatcher

What theories favour marketisation?

• The new right and neoliberals as marketisation means schools have to attract customers by competing with eachother in the market. Schools will provide customers with what they want will thrive and those that dont will “ go out of business”

What are some policies which promote marketisation?

• Publication of league tables and ofsted inspection reports that rank rach school

• Formula funding

• Schools having to compete to attract pupils

• Business sponsorship of schools

What does David argue?

• Parentocracy.

• Supporters of marketisation argue that power shifts away from producers (schools) to the consumers (parents). This encourages diversity amongst schools and gives parents more choice and raises standards

What do ball and whitty note?

• Marketisation policies such as exam league tables and the funding formula reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities between schools

What are league tables?

• The policy of publishing each schools exam results ensures schools achieve good results to attract more parents to those with good league table rankings

What does Bartlett note league tables encourage?

• Because parents are attracted to schools with good league rankings that it encourges schools to engage in two types of behaviour

• Cream skimming and Silt shifting

What is cream skimming and silt shifting?

• Cream skinming is where good schools can be more selective and recruit mainly middle class high achieving pupils

• Silt shifting us where good schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools league table position

What is the funding formula?

• Schools are allocated funds by a formula based on how many pupils they attract

• Popular schools get more funds and can recruit better teachers and build better facilities

• Their popularity allows them to be more selective attracting more able and ambitious middle class applicants

• Unpopular schools lose income lose best teachers facilities fall into disrepair and fail to attract pupils so funding is further reduced

What did the Institute for Public Policy Research find?

• Competition oriented education systems like Britains produces more segregated between children of different social backgrounds

What did Gerwitz study?

• 14 London Secondary schools and found that differences in parents economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far they can exercise choice of secondary school

What were the 3 main types of parents and explain them.

• semi skilled disconnected and skilled, cultural capital involved

When did New Labour come into government?

1997-2010

What were some policies introduced under the New Labour Government?

• The education maintenance allowance, payments which encouraged students from low income backgrounds to encourage them to stay on after 16 to gain better qualifications

• Increased funding or state education

Who states there is a new labour paradox and why?

• Benn

• Despite introducing EMAs to encourage poorer students to stay in education, Labour also introduced tuition fees for higher education that may deter them from going to university

What did david cameron state?

2010-2015, cameron stated educational policy was to “encourage excellence competition and innovation” by freeing schools from the “dead hand of the state”

What were key conservative government policies from 2010?

• Academies

• Free schools

• Fragmented centralisation

• Policies to reduce inequality

How did academies support marketisation and how many secondary schools had converted to academy status?

• All schools were encouraged to leave local authority to become academies, funding was taken from authority budgets and given directly to academies.

• by 2017 over 68% of all secondary schools had converted to academy status

How are free schools said to improve competition?

• Free schools are set up by parents teachers or faith organisations and allows competition and standard of education to improve as control is taken away from the state and given to parents.

What sociologist and stats go against free schools?

• Allen’s research from Sweden, where 20% of schools are free schools, only benefit children from highly educated families. Sweden’s international ranking has fallen since the introduction of free schools

What does ball argue academies and free schools have led too?

• Fragmentation of schools which has led to widening inequality

What were some policies introduced to reduce inequality from 2010?

• Free school meals from reception to year 2

• Pupil premium

• HOWEVER TRIPLED UNI FEES TO 9K