state policy and education

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  • Created by: kjaneway1
  • Created on: 10-05-17 10:18

1944 education act introduced the tripartide syste

before the second world war many poor people could't afford secondary education becuse it wasn't free

the 1944 act made secondary school free for all and raised the leaving age to 15. you took the 11+ exam at the end of primary school and then went to one of three types of school

1. grammer school - were for the able kids who passed the 11+ pupils were taught traditional subjects ready for univerity about 20% of kids got into grammer schools

2. secondary modern schools - were for the 75- 80% of pupils who failed the 11+. secondary moderns offered basic education

3. techical schools - were meant to provide a more vocational education for those pupils with aptitude for practical subjects

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critisisms of the tripartide system

1. the 11+ didn't necassarily measure your intelligence. it was culturaly bias and suited the middle class more than the working class. it actually legitimised social class inequality by incorporating it into the system.

2. few technical schools were built so the vocational part of the plan didn't work that well. most children ended up either at grammer school or secondary modern schools. these schools were supposed to have parity of esteem - they were supposed to be considered as having equal value - but grammer schools were seen as the best

3, kids who failed the 11+ were labelled as failiures which sometimes turned them off education

4. if well off middle class pupils failed their parents could still aford private schools

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1965 the labour made schools comprehensive

the labour government insisted that local education authorities reorganised most schools so that everyone had equality of opportunity. comprehenive school means its univeral - everyones meant to get the same deal

positive aspects of the comprehensive system

- theres no 11+ so the school population don't get labelled as failures

- high ability pupils generally still do well with this system lower ability pupils do better in comprehensive schools than in the old secondary moderns

criticisms of the comprehensive system

- most comprehensive schools still sort out pupils int streams or sets depending on test scores so its still possible to feel like a failiure without the 11+

- comprehensive in the working class areas have worse gcse results than those in middles class areas

comprehensive schooling hasn't achieved equality of opportunity schools tend to be single class depending on the local area. where people can afford to live is important in educational attainment

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1976 the push for vocational education started

in 1976 labour prime minister james callaghan made a speech saying that british education and industry was in decline becuse schools didn't teach people the skills they needed in work. all governments since then have has polices designed to create a cloer link between school and work. this is called vocationalism

1. youth training schemes - started in 1983. there were job training schemes for school leavers aged 16-17

2. NVQs and GNVQs - wew introduced - these were practical qualifications

3. the new deal introduced in 1998 mean people on benifits had to attend courses if they didn't accept work

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criticisms with vocational education

- some sociologists argue that vocational education aims to teach good work discipline

- some marxists sociologists say that vocational training provides cheep labour and that governments encoredge people into training schemes to lower unemployment statistics

- vocational qualifications often aren't regarde as highly as academic qualifications by universities and employers

- some feminist sociologists argue that vocational qualifications force girls into traditionally female jobs such as beautitian or childminder

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1988 education reform act - choice inspections and

in the late 1980s the conservative government introduced some major reforms in education

these reforms were based on new right ideas so they were focused on

- widerning choice within the education system

- encoredging more competition to create a market in schools ( marketisation

education should link to the economy - the government introduced more vocational courses and more work placement schemes

there should be a system of choice and competition- parnets could choose which school to send their child to - if the school had space

- parents could use league tables to help them choose. league tables show how many kids at each school pass there exams and how many get good grades

- schools worked like bussinesses and advertised for students

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1988 education reform act - choice inspections and

there should be better standards in education

- the government introduced a national curriculum of compulsory subjects for all 5 - 16 year olds english maths and science has to be given more space in the timetable

- ofstead was set uo to inspect schools and amke sure they were doing a decent job.

- schools could opt out of their local education authority and become grant - maintained schools this means that they got money straight from the government and could spend it how they liked. the government believed this would improve standards

there should be more testing and exams

- pupils had to sit sats at 7,11 and 14 and gcses at 16

- the results chould be used to form league tables and monitor school standards

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criticisms of the policies of the education reform

sociologists such as whitty argue that middle class parents have an advantage in the education market. since they are more likely to have succeeded in education themselves they have the knowledge and attitudes to choose a good school for their child. they  may also have finantual capital to move to an area with better schools. increasing parental choice can actually reinforce social class inequlity

constant testing can be stressfull for students and can encoredge labelling and self forfilling phrophacies

ball - claimed that the new national curriculum was the curriculum of the dead becuse its emphasis on the core subjects are outdated

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new labour followed third way ideas

when labour took power they wanted to intervene to do something about educational inequality. but they also wanted choice and diversity. this approach is called third way politics - which included old labour polices of the state intervention and the new right policies of marketisation combined. patry leaders call themselves new labour

1. new labour continued the process of marketisation begun by the previous conservative government. for example they allowed schools to specalise in cartain subjects - to try to create diversity and increase choice for parents. they also allowed faith schools to be set up

2. claimed that privatisation would improve efficientcy and standards becuse the contracts were conpetitive, but some people argue that the privatisation of education takes too much control away from schools

3. the government also persued some interventionist policies such as

- reducing infant class sizes to a maximum of 30

- introducing numeracy hour and literacy hour in primary schools

- trying to increase the number of people going to university

4. a big change in education for 16-18 year olds came with curriclum 2000. policy changed to make a level education broader. a vocational a level was introduced. key skills qualifications were also launched and were supposed to be usefull for all jobs

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some policies aimed to promote gender equality

girls

the 1988 national curriculum gave all pupils equal entitlement to all subjects for the first time. this has been creaditied with the increased achievement of girls in the last 20 years

inituatives such as the computer club for girls, women into science and engineering and girls in science and technology encoredge girls to get involved with subjects they have traditionally avioded

boys

in 1999 the govenment gave grants to primary schoools to hold extra writing classes for boys to help push uo their sats scores.

in 2005 the breakthrough programme introduced mentoring, afterschool classes and e- tutorials for teenage boys in an attempt to improve their exam performance

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some new labour policies aimed to reduce class in

compensatory education tries to make up for material and cultural deprivation by giving extra help to those who need it. this is an interventionist approach. new labour introduced several compensatory policies during there time in power

1. sure start- begain in 1999. it was a government programme to improve early education and chilodcare in england and offered up to two years of free childcare and early education to all three to four year olds

2. EMAs - gave up to £30 per week to students who stayed on in education post 16. a series of bonuses were avalible for good attendence and progress. EMA was means tested so only children from poorer families could benifit from it

3. education action zones- were introduced in 1998 as a way of tackleing educational inequlaity by erea. local public, private and voluintary organisations worked together and combined there resourses to try and raise standards

4. free school meals and breakfast clubs also aimed to reduce class inquality

5. the academics programme opened new schools in disadvantaged areas where existing schools were judged to be failing. they were run in partnership with local business sponsors to try to improve proformance

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new labour policies to reduce class inequality cri

sociologists such as benn have cirisisedf new labour becuse their politics aimed at reducing educational inequality seemed to be consistant with policies that threatended to increase it. for example they introduced university tuition fees of £1000 a year in 1998 and increasing them to £3000 in 2004. these fees are a barrier to higher education for many working class students

for benn therefore, third way politics was too contradictoty. she calls this the new labour paradox

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privatisation and marketisation progressed under t

coalition government formed from the liberal democrats and the conservative governement lead by conservative leader david cameron

1. the coalition changed the adademics programme. any school classed as outstanding by ofstead could apply to become an academy without a sponsor. failing schools were made into sponsored academies. the increasing numbers of schools run by private organisations means that the privatisation of the education system has advanced

2. they also introduced free school which are set up by groups of parents teachers and religous groups and don't have to teach the national curriculum. the government hoped that this would provide more choice in disadvantaged areas

3. under education secretary michael gove there were changes to the national curriculum

- a levels were changed to a linear structure - all exams must be taken at the end of the course

- in a similar way coursework and modular exams were removed at gcse

- far more formal grammer was intoduced in the primary english curriculum

4. the government also introduced the pupil premium which provided extra funding for schools with students on free school meals. the funding was supposed to be spent on improving the educational experience of these pupils

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privatisation and marketisation progressed under t

critics say that in some disadvantaged areas the asademics and free school attract all the best teachers which undermines local schools

it is difficult to track wheather pupil premium funding is actually being spent on disadvantaged pupils or wheather it is being absorbed into the whole school budget

the maximun tuition fees in higher education increased to 9250 a year this can be seen as socially exclusive, becuse its also increased the loans that most students need. this debt can be off putting for working class students

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education has been affected by gobalisation

globalisation is the idea that traditional national boundaries are breaking down accross the world as people become more connected by improving technology, multinational companies and increase migration

- the british economy needs to be competitive in global industries like technology so british workers need to be highly trained. this has an impact on education policy e.g computer progamming has been introduced to the primary school curriclum

- increased immigration to the uk has meant that theres a heavier focus on learning about other cultures. schools also need to provide soecialised support for pupils whose first language is not english

- educational ideas are shared between nations. uk politicians have been influenced by countris such as finland, whoose education wystem is ranked very highly.

however kelly has warned that as education systems become increasingly simiar they'll become less relivat to the needs of individual nations

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