New right Perspective of Education

New Right Perspective…read more

NR is a conservative, political view. However, it's ideas have
influenced both Conservative and Labour policies.
· There basic view on everything is that the state can't provide for all
and people must be left to meet their own needs through the free
market.
· NR are very similar to functionalists except for the fact that NR
believe that schools fail because they are run by the state.
· Schools aren't just a one size fits all affair, every child is different
and the school they attend should tailor to those differences e.g.
money, class etc.
· Many state schools waste money and get poor results due to the
lower standards they have compared to public, fee paying schools.
· This low achievement and standard at school leads to a less
qualified workforce and therefore a less prosperous economy.
· School are like a business.
· The solution for NR would be to create an educational market. This
will create competition and therefore schools would appreciate their
pupils and then teach them to a higher standard. The competition
would also bring greater diversity, choice and efficiency to school
which would increase their ability to meet the needs of pupils,
parents and employers.…read more

Chubb and Moe 1990's USA
· They argue that the American state education system has failed. They blame this
on:
· DISADVANTAGED GROUPS- not complete equality for all races, genders and
abilities.
· INEFFICIENCY- fails to produce pupils with the skills needed by the economy.
· COMPARISON TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS- the deliver a higher quality of education
due to parent power
· Their argument is based on a comparison of achievements of 60,000 pupils from low-
income families in over 1000 schools (state and private), together with the findings of
a parent survey and case studies of `failing' schools being turned around. Their
evidence shows that pupils from low- income families consistently do about 5% better
in private schools.
· Based on these findings, C&M call for the introduction of a market system in state
education that would put the consumers in control. At the moment we have the
formula funding system, where each child is worth a certain amount of money to the
school and the school receives a guaranteed amount of money and spend it on what
they want around the school. C&M would like the child to personally receive a
voucher and at the beginning of the new school year give the voucher to their decided
school. They argue that their would allow consumers/ parents to shape the school to
meet their own needs and improve efficiency and quality and have more of a say in
what happens. This would force schools to be more responsive to parents' wishes. As
these vouchers would be their only source of income, like a business they would have
to attract and compete for customers therefore giving them a better standard of
education.…read more

Two Roles for the State
· However, while the NR stress the importance of market forces on
education, this doesn't mean that they see no role for the state.
They believe that the state maintains 2 vital roles:
· 1) the state imposes a framework on schools in which they have to
compete in. For example, Ofsted create league tables and reports
so schools compete to get to a certain position. This gives the
parents information so they can make well- judged decisions on
where to send their child.
· 2) The state ensures that schools transmit a shared culture. In the
National Curriculum, they try to create a single culture with set
values where they are socialised into a single set heritage.
· NR believe that education should affirm national identity. For
example, the national curriculum should emphasize the British role
models our society was built on e.g. Shakespeare and Christianity.
The aim is to integrate pupils into a single set of common beliefs and
values which are taught in education. For this reason, the NR also
oppose multi- cultural education that reflects the cultures of ethnic
minority groups in Britain.…read more

Evaluation
· Gewirtz and Ball both argue that competition between
schools only benefits the middle class as their family has
more knowledge on how the system works so
understand the league tables etc unlike many working
class families.
· Many critics argue that it isn't the state's fault for
educational failure, its inadequate funding and class
inequality.
· There is a contradiction between the NR support of
parental support and the state imposing a compulsory
nat. curriculum on all it's school.
· Marxists argue that education doesn't impose a shared
nat. curriculum but imposes the culture of a dominant
minority ruling class.…read more