1. Thunk: Is this fair? How would you feel if you were divided into 3 different types of school depending on your ability?

2. Educational Policy & Inequality
Learning objectives:
Know the main features of important educational policies including:
Tripartite system
Comprehensivisation
Marketisation
Privatisation
Globalisation
Policies relating to gender and ethnicity

3. What is educational policy?
Plans and strategies for education introduced by government
Economic efficiency – improving talents of young people to improve the skills of the labour force to maintain Britain’s successful position in the world economy
Raising standards – improving education or schools
Creating equality of educational opportunity in a meritocratic society: giving everyone the same chances of success in education (regardless of ethnicity, gender, class)

4. Starter: Arrange the cards in the order you think educational reforms happened…
Pre 1880 – church education
1880’s – industrial revolution
1944 Tripartite system
1965 introduction of a comprehensive system
1965 – new labour reforms
1998 marketization of education
2010 academies act
2010 free schools

5. What did education used to be like?
Before 1988 education was available to a minority of the population
Fee-paying schools for the well off
Churches or charities for a few of the poor
Before 1833 the state spent no money on education.

6. 1. Tripartite system 1944 – 1965 Butler’s education act

7. The tripartite system
Before 1944 young people only had free access to a basic form of elementary education up to the age of 14, similar to basic primary education today
Secondary schools involved paying fees, meaning poorer parents couldn’t afford it.

8. Selection: The tripartite system
From 1944 education began to be influenced by the idea of meritocracy, individuals should achieve their status through their own abilities and efforts rather than being ascribed at birth by their class background.
This was done through the 11+ exam, to select and allocate children to one of 3 types of secondary school according to ability.

9. Selection: The tripartite system
Page 77 in textbook: what were the 3 main types of schools?
pass
Grammar schools
Upper middle/middle class
Selection by 11+ exam
fail
Technical schools
Lower middle/skilled manual working class
fail
Secondary modern schools
Working class

10. Problems with the tripartite system?
Any strengths?

11. The tripartite system under attack…

12. The tripartite system under attack…
During the 1960s the tripartite system came under increasing attach. The 11+ exam was seen as unfair, unreliable and an inaccurate selection test
Disadvantaged children from working-class homes and damaged self esteem
Secondary modern schools were seen as inferior, second rate schools
Grammar schools had higher status and offered better life chances to pupils
Research in 1950s and 1960s – talent was being wasted in the secondary modern schools.

13. 2. 1965-1979 The comprehensive school system… pg 77-78
Abolished selection at age 11 and the 11+ exam and the three types of secondary school
Most children regardless of ability, generally transfer to secondary school at the age of 11 with no selection
In 2014, nearly all UK children were attending some form of comprehensive school, only 164 state-funded grammar schools remaining.

14. Evaluation of comprehensive schools… pg 78
Strengths of comprehensive schools
weaknesses

15. Education reform act
Marketisation has become a central theme since the 1988 education reform act
New labour of Tony Blair followed similar policies, then followed by the conservative- Liberal Democrat coalition government took marketization even further, e.g. academies and free schools
Why do the new right favour marketization?
New right – power to the state – want to be independent.

16. Marketisation of Education
Marketisation is the process whereby services, like education or health which were previously controlled by the state, operate like independently managed private businesses, subject to the free market sources based on competition and consumer choice.
Main features of marketization of education can be summarised as:
Independence – allowing schools (including sixth-form colleges and colleges of further education) to control their own affairs and run like private businesses
Competition – making schools and colleges compete with one another for customers (students)
Choice – giving customers (parents and students) a choice of schools, enabling them to choose whatever education suits their needs.

17. How many different types of school can you think of?
Specialist schools
Grammar schools
Voluntary-aided schools
Free schools
Faith schools
Faith schools
Special schools

18. Marketisation – Jigsaw Task
Policies that promote marketization…
Each group to learn notes on one policy and evaluation – evaluation can be strengths and weaknesses
You will teach it back to each other
You are responsible to provide good quality information to your group

19. Parentocracy – AO1 Policies to promote marketisation include:
Publication of league tables that ranks each school, giving parents info they need to choose the right school
Specialist schools, giving parents choice
Schools can opt out of local authority control, to become academies
Schools to compete to attract pupils
Allowing parents and others to set up free schools

20. Parentocracy – AO3
David (1993) – marketised education as a ‘parentocracy’ literally ruled by parents – is this always a good thing?
Supporters of marketization argue that in an education market, power shifts away from the producers (teachers and schools) to the consumer (parents)
This encourages diversity among schools, and gives parents more choice raising standards
Why do you think this is the case?

21. League tables how easy is it to tell how well your school is doing?
How easy is it to tell how well your school is performing from the information given? How much understanding of the education system do you need to interpret the information given? Do parents from all social backgrounds have equality of opportunity to use this information to identify the best institution when choosing a school or college for their children?

22. League tables and cream skimming– AO1
The policy of publishing league tables means that schools that achieve good results are going to be in demand – parents want their children to go to these schools.
Bartlett (1993) notes, this encourages:
Cream skimming – ‘good’ schools can be more selective, only choose high achieving mainly middle-class pupils, these pupils gain an advantage
Silt-shifting – ‘good’ schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results to damage the school’s league position table

23. League tables and cream skimming– AO3 
What about schools with poor league table positions?
They can’t afford to be selective and have to take less able and many working-class pupils, their results are poorer and remain unattractive to middle-class parents
Therefore league tables produce unequal schools that reproduce social class inequalities.

24. The funding formula Pg. 79 AO1 What is the funding formula?
How can this have an impact on the school or teaching staff?
What happens to unpopular schools?
AO3
What did the institute for Public Policy Research (2012) find?

25. National curriculum and national testing
To improve standards across the country, and ensure all students had access to the same high-quality curriculum
Attainment targets (teachers are expected to enable students to reach)
Formal assessments at the end of key stages 1-3 to ensure targets are met.
Can you think of problems with this policy?

26. How do middle-class parents ‘play the system’?
Giving a false address to fall into certain catchment areas
Children may be unaware of how parents have done this
Hidden – having friends in the teaching profession who can give them advise on admissions
Buying a house near a good school – is this ‘playing the system’ or is it a sensible decision?

27. Criticisms of the marketization of education
Difficulties in improving schools and colleges – makes it harder for poorer schools and colleges to improve, students will go elsewhere. Better schools will get more money and therefore can improve further.
‘dumbing down’ the need for colleges to retain students and the money they bring with them. If students have too much work or find it difficult then they may move colleges to somewhere that seems easier or less demanding. Therefore, content and teaching may be ‘dumbed down’
Problems with national curriculum and testing – puts unnecessary pressure on young children, leading to a sense of failure from a young age. ‘teaching to the test’ may occur. “exam factories”

28. Quick check questions
In what way did the tripartite system reproduce class inequality?
Identify two reasons why comprehensivisation did not end educational inequality
Explain how the idea that there is a ‘parentocracy’ legitimates inequality

29. Answers
1. By channelling the two social classes into two different types of school that offered unequal opportunities and led to different future occupations.
2. Any two of the following: Not all local education authorities went comprehensive, so the grammar- secondary modern divide continued in many areas; lack of social mixing between working-class and middle-class pupils within the school; comprehensives continued to reproduce class inequality through labelling and streaming.
3. By making it appear that all parents have the same freedom to choose which school to send their children to, whereas in reality middle-class parents are better able to take advantage of the choices available. Failure is thus presented as the fault of parents who fail to choose wisely.

30. “The cult of league tables” Bring summary for Weds
Reading for this week
“The cult of league tables” Bring summary for Weds