Marketisation and Privatisation policies

What does marketisation mean?

This refers to a trend in 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.

What does privatisation mean?

The transfer of ownership of a public service or asset to a private entity, often aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing government involvement.

1988 Education Reform Act (marketisation)

This marketised education through the National curriculm, formula funding, open enrolment, League tables and OFSTED.

What does open enrolment mean? (marketisation)

This means that parents could choose where to send their children to school- not just based on which was their nearest school.

Evaluation of open enrolment

The myth of parentocracy: Ball believes that marketisation gives the appearance of a ‘parentocracy’. The education system seems as if it is based on having a free choice of school. He argues that it makes it appear that all parents have the same freedom to choose which school to send their children to.

Evaluation of open enrolment

Gerwitz studied secondary schools and found that differences in parents economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far they can excise choice of secondary school.

What does privileged-skilled choosers mean? (evaluation of open enrolment)

They were mainly m/c parents who used their capital to navigate the schools admission system and afford moving into the best areas to get into the schools higher up the league tables.

What does disconnected-local choosers mean? (evaluation of open enrolment)

Disconnected local choosers- w/c parents who were less able to make informed choices due to a lack of resources or information, often settling for their local schools regardless of quality.

What does formula funding mean? (marketisation)

This meant that schools were allocated funds based on the number of pupils they were able to attract to their school.

Evaluation of formula funding

Schools focus on getting more pupils for funding and good league table positions and outstanding OFSTED reports. So, schools are focusing less on facilities in the school and are becoming more like exam factories.

What does OFTSED and league tables mean? (marketisation)

Parents now had information about schools to make choices about where to send their children and schools had to compete with each other for pupils. The idea was to raise standards in schools as the best schools with the best OFSTED reports and top of the league tables would attract more pupils (and therefore more funding), schools at the bottom would have to improve or be in danger of closing.

International league tables

There are a number of international league tables, based on standardised tests given to children in various countries. For e.g PISA (Programmes for International Student Assessment, produced by the OECD). Such league tables have influenced educational policy, such as the introduction of national literacy and numeracy strategies and introducing free schools to emulate Finland.

Eval of international league tables

However, international league tables have led to a view that education is primarily concerned with preparing people for work (ignoring the appreciation of culture; citizenship, social cohesion etc.).

Evaluation of league tables

Bartlett found that schools reproduced inequality through cream-skimming and silt-shifting.

• Cream skimming means that good schools can be more selective, choose their own customers and recruit high achievers- mainly m/c pupils.

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

The National Curriculum (marketisation)

Parental choice- to choose the best schools and curriculum that will enable their child to get into a higher ranking university.

Tuition fees (marketisation)

Labour introduced tuition fees for higher education starting from September 1998- increased to £9,000 in 2012. This was designed to shift higher education from a state-funded system to a marked-based system. Universities compete with other uni’s for more students- and international students have higher tuition fees so it is very competitive.

• Students now pay for their degree- they become consumers.

• Universities now must compete to attract students.

• Universities respond by:

  • Offering better facilities.

  • Enhancing student experience.

Why it didn’t fully work- eval

Price competition did not emerge- almost all universities changed the maximum fee- this removed real price competition.

Analysis: Instead of a competitive market, this became a standardised high-cost system.

Inequality still shapes choice:

• Middle-class students- are more likely to attend high-status universities, more confident navigating the system- whereas w/c students are more debt-averse and are more likely to stay local.

• Analysis: choice is structured by class inequality, not just market logic.

The Academies Act (2010) (privatisation)

From 2010 all schools were encouraged to leave local authorities control and become academies. Funding was taken from local authorities budget and given directly to academies by central government. Some academies are sponsored and overseen by businesses.

• Main focus: state-funded, independently run schools.

• Controlled by academy trusts, freed from local authority.

Evaluation of Academies

Reduced local accountability, expansion of academy chains, uneven quality- Ball.

• If education is run like a business— priorities shift towards growth, branding and results.

Private finance initiative- PFI- (privatisation)

Public-private partnership to finance school buildings, this was brought in by the New Labour government. Private contractors such as Carillion join with local authorities to jointly fund the building of new schools and colleges. The initiative allowed for private sector involvement in the construction and maintenance of educational facilities, often leading to long-term contracts for services.

Evaluation of PFI

PFI has been criticised as being more costly than anticipated and actually led to some local education authorities being burdened with huge debts.

Free schools

Free schools do not have to teach the National curriculum. They can be created and/or overseen by businesses. They are created by non-government organisations that are not linked to the state.

• Main focus: new schools set up by parents, charities or groups.

• Not run by local authorities, funded by government.

• Free schools may intensify inequality and fragmentation.

Evaluation of free schools

Free schools have widened the gap for inequality between schools because they divert state funds into opening new schools rather than improving the ones that already exist.

Globalised education (privitisation)

This is a way education has been privatised but not because of social policy. This services industry with more control being given to private capitalists. Global ICT companies like Apple and Google and the exam board- Edexcel that is owned by the private company, Pearsons reinforces the idea of education becoming more privatised.

• Transnational companies (Apple and Google) - the rise of technology has also meant that changes to the curriculum which hoped to create skilled, adaptable workers.

Privatisation and the globalisation of educational policy

Many private companies in the education services industry are foreign-owned. The exam board Edexcel is owned by the US educational publishing and testing giant Pearson, and according to Ball some Pearson GCSE exam answers are now marked in Sydney and Iowa.

Privatisation and the globalisation of educational policy #2

Buckingham and Scanlon argue that the UK’s four leading educational software companies are all owned by global multinationals (Disney, the US toy companies Mattel and Hambro, and French media corporation Vivendi). Many contracts for educational services in the UK are sold on by the original company to others such as banks and investment funds. In a globalised world, these are often bought by overseas companies.

The cola-isation of schools (privitisation)

The private sector is also penetrating education indirectly, for example through vending machines on school premises and the development of brand loyalty through displays of logos and sponsorships. This process has been called the cola-isation of schools.

Education as a commodity (privitisation)

Policy is increasingly focused on moving educational services out of the public sector controlled by the nation-state, to be provided by private companies instead. In the process, education is being turned into a ‘legitimate object of private-profit making’, a commodity to be bought and sold in an education market.