Marketisation 30 Marker

Item B
Until the 1980s, most education was provided by elected local education authorities, directed and funded by central government. However, the 1988 Education Reform Act began the marketisation of education, aimed at raising standards by increasing parental choice and competition between schools. After 2010, there was a substantial move towards the privatisation of education through policies such as the growth of chains of academies run by private businesses. Some sociologists claim that the main impact of marketisation and privatisation policies has not been to raise standards, but to increase educational inequality.

Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate the claim that marketisation and privatisation policies have increased educational inequality [30 marks]

• ‘parental choice’

  • Open enrolment - parents can choose any school regardless of where they live

  • Leads to cream skimming and silt shifting

  • Gerwitz - myth of parentocracy

  • C - people can succeed without capital

• ‘competition’

  • League tables rank schools encouraging competition between them

  • Schools must get as many C and above grades as possible

  • Gillborn and Youdell - educational triage to achieve on league tables

  • Leaves w/c behind

  • Competition also creates divides through stress which is encouraged by teachers

  • C - self refuting

• ‘academies run like private businesses’

  • Gove introduced free schools to fight inequality

  • Stray away from national curriculum

  • Allen - free schools only benefit middle class as they are more selective and parentocracy

  • Can select students based on religion which leads to social stratification

  • Cola-isation shifts focus onto commercial interests rather than education, getting loyal customers from early age

  • It is conclusive that schools, especially academies, don’t focus on education but on business

  • It is seen that free schools have a higher intake of m/c pupils, proving this

• ‘raise standards’

  • Before marketisation, education was not meritocratic

  • Chubb and Moe

  • Voucher system

  • Influenced Thatcher to implement ERA

  • C - Bourdieu - cultural capital