1. Starter activity What do the following words mean?
Formal socialisation
Social control
Equality of opportunity
Vocationalism
Hidden curriculum
Meritocracy

2. Answer
Formal socialisation - deliberately setting out to influence people's behaviour
Social control - the way in which the social rules of the cultures within which people live, affect their behaviour
Equality of opportunity - everyone in our society has the same chances.
Vocationalism – Preparation for work
Hidden curriculum - the values that are passed on by schools without people realising.
Meritocracy - the belief that the best people will do well in education and get the best jobs

3. PEEA !!! What does it mean?
The idea that Britain’s Education system IS meritocratic can be illustration in a number of ways. A number of policies have been introduced to ensure equal opportunities for pupils.
For example the Race Relations Act means that schools have to take steps to eliminate racial discrimination.
However the patterns in education show that this has not been successful as there are proportionately fewer ethnic minorities in the best jobs and more of them in prison
This therefore shows that, as AH Halsey comments, despite these policies, equality of OUTCOME is still not achieved.

4. Developing your points with critical thinking
Developing your points with critical thinking. How might you develop these points to gain AO2 marks?
In 1965 circular 10/65 was sent to all LEAs asking them to prepare for comprehensive education.
In 1973 the labour government lifted the age of compulsory schooling from 14 to 16.
From 1979 Margaret Thatcher’s conservative Government encouraged competition between schools to drive improvements in education.

5. Are schools equally good?
Evaluating the extent to which children have equality of opportunity in British schools
PowerPoint 2
Are schools equally good?

6. Policies encouraging competition
Publishing League Table results
Encouraging private investors in schools
Setting up the Academy programme
Offering parental choice of schools
Publishing GCSE and A level league tables
Inspecting (Ofsted/Estyn) and publishing inspection reports

7. Activity You are parents who are ambitious for your children.
List five things that you would look for in a school when you were making your choices.
How would you set out about judging a school or finding out which was the best school?

8. Discussion Point
Critical thinking is about looking beyond the obvious ! Digging deeper to get the truth and considering alternative explanations.
Are examination results the best way of telling the differences in the quality of education provided between schools?
(4 minutes)

9. The best schools or the best pupils?
The problem is that it is difficult to know whether schools that produce good examination results are actually the best schools.
Karl Turner found that schools with high percentages of pupils with free school meals were unlikely to get good inspection reports.
Schools with the best examination results tend to be single sex female, fee paying or in very wealthy areas and which select their pupils.

10. Discussion
If you were a school in competition with others, what kind of pupils would you want to attract in order to get the best results?
What kinds of children would you reject from your school if you had the choice?
SO here is the critical thinking part …………..
What impact has market led government policy had on schools and schooling for SOME pupils?

11. Gorard and Tymms (2006)
Stephen Gorard and Peter Tymms (2006) said that pupils' examination results and schools' positions in league tables are affected by
family wealth and pupil's prior ability.
This relationship may be to do with factors that are beyond the control of parents:
poor diet,
poor health,
and lack of resources.

12. Assessment Write a paragraph in answer to the following question.
Assess the view that competition between schools will encourage better education for all pupils
Show clear evidence of both AO1 and AO2 skills in your paragraph – There is a research study that is relevant to this topic !