topic 6 educational policies

What was education like in the late 19th century before 1988

the state made schooling compulsory from the ages of 5 to 13yrs.

middle-class were given an academic education to prepare them for professional work

working-class were taught basic skills to prepare them for manual work, encouraging obedience to authority.

Educational policy in Britain before 1988
The tripartite system 1944

idea that meritocracy influenced education
there were 3 different school types that students were put in based on their 11+ results.
1)grammar schools
2)secondary modern schools
3)technical schools

describe grammar schools

offered an academic curriculum and access to non-manual jobs and higher education. They were for pupils with academic abilities who passed the 11+. These pupils were mainly mc.

describe secondary modern schools

offered a non-academic practical curriculum and access to manual work. There was no exam. These pupils were mainly wc.

describe technical schools

only existed in a few areas so really there was a choice of two schools for the majority. These would teach mechanical, scientific and engineering skills to serve industry and science. They died down soon after they were introduced.

give 2 evaluations of the tripartite system

Marxists: Rather than promoting meritocracy the system reproduced class inequality by channelling two social classes into two different types of schools that offered unequal opportunities.

Feminists: The system also reproduced gender inequality by requiring girls to gain higher marks than boys in the 11+ to obtain a grammar school place.

Educational policy in Britain before 1988
Comprehensive schooling (1965)

Functionalists would like this type of schooling as it promotes integration of different social classes

aimed to overcome the class divide of the tripartite system and make education more meritocratic.

The 11+ was abolished along with grammars and secondary moderns. All pupils in a certain area would attend the local comprehensive school.

evaluate comprehensive schooling

it was left to the local education authority to decide whether to go over to this system and not all schools did.

give an overview of marketisation polices

Under Thatcher and The Education Reform Act of 1988

this has created an education market by reducing direct state control over education and increasing competition between schools and parent choice of school.

What is parentocracy

Means 'rule by parents' and promoted a market

what is marketisation

the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state e.g. education

marketisation has become a theme for the government. Who was it first introduced by and using what policy

the conservative government by Margert Thatcher via the education reform act in 1988

which theorist's like marketisation

New right and neoliberalism

what did the education reform act do

Increased parental choice of schools, publishing league tables and the National Curriculum was created.

What did the new labour reforms 1997 do

Increased parental choice, academies set up in deprived areas, Education Action Zones set up as well as Aim Higher programmes to deal with inequality. EMA was introduced for low-income students to motivate them to focus on their studies and the National Literacy Strategy was launched

what did Conservative/Lib Dem coalition and subsequent conservative governments 2010 do

Focus on academies, business funded schools, free schools, deregulation of schools (Ofsted, untrained teachers).