Education Policies

EDUCATION POLICY

• Policies are created by the government, and are carried out by schools, colleges, universities & local education authories (LEAs).

• The main aims of most policies have been around the following categories:

• 1) Meritocracy - providing equal opportunities (often related to social class)

• 2) Marketisation/parentocracy - making schools compete for students & giving parents more choice in where to send their children to school. Also linked to policies promoting more diversity (difference) & choice in education.

• 3) Gender - how to improve male or female achievement.

• 4) Ethnicity - how to address having students from different cultures in the same education system.

TRIPARTITE SYSTEM - 1944 Butler Act (Conservative government).

• Aim - to be meritocratic.

• How it worked - all students sat the 11+ exam to decide which high school they went to. There were 3 types- grammar schools for those who passed the 11+, taught an academic curriculum to prepare for higher education/non-manual work. Secondary moderns - for those who failed the 11+, taught a practical/vocational curriculum to prepare for manual work. Technical schools - for those good at science/engineering, few were built (too expensive).

• Impact (AO3) - it reproduced class inequalities. MC students were more likely to pass the 11+ due to having more cultural capital (knowledge)& economic capital (money to pay for private tutors) & go to grammar schools & get a better education, while WC children went to secondary moderns - got a lower standard of education. Also reproduced gender inequalities - girls needed higher marks to pass the 11+ than boys.

 COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM - 1965 (Labour government)

• Aim - to be meritocratic & remove the class inequalities of the tripartite system.

• How it worked - all students went to one type of school (comprehensive) & received the same education. Places at schools were based on catchment areas (an area around a school where it takes pupils from).

• Impact (AO3) - it helped to reduce the class gap in achievement to some extent. However, due to teacher labelling & setting/streaming it still reproduces class inequalities. Also, the tripartite system still exists in some areas.

MARKETISATION POLICIES

• Marketisation - making schools compete for students. It created an education market by reducing state control over education & increasing competition between schools & parentocracy.

• The 1988 Education Reform Act introduced marketisation in the British education system through OFSTED reports, league tables & formula fundings.

• Other policies have included- open enrolment (successful schools being able to recruit more students), specialists schools, academies & free schools. These link to New Right ideas of trying to raise standards and create parentocracy.

THE IMPACT OF MARKETISATION POLICIES (AO3)

BALL argues that marketisation benefits the middle class. League tables mean top schools can be more selective over their intake- they cream-skim (pick the best students- middle class) & silt-shift (avoid taking in ‘bad’ students - WC), meaning WC students go to underperforming schools. Formula funding means top schools get more money, can improve their facilities again become…