Educational Policies & The Structure of Britain's Education System (AQA A Level Sociology): Flashcards

The tripartite system was bipartite in practice because few technical schools were built, which widened the gap between academic and non-academic routes.

Comprehensive schools were introduced in 1965 by the Labour government to promote equality of opportunity.

A comprehensive school is a non-selective, all-ability school where children of all backgrounds and abilities are educated together.

Marxists argue that comprehensive schools reproduce class inequality, as streaming and setting place working-class students in lower groups.

True.

Functionalists argue that comprehensives promote social integration and solidarity by mixing students from very different backgrounds and abilities.

Marxist feminists argue that comprehensives remain patriarchal institutions that channel girls into stereotypical subjects.

The New Right argues that comprehensive schools lack standards because of a lack of competition and choice.

Popular comprehensives create catchment inequality by increasing local house prices, which prices out working-class families.

After 1979, education policy shifted away from promoting equal opportunities towards marketisation, parental choice and competition.

Marketisation is the idea that schools should operate like businesses in a competitive market, competing for students and funding.

The major education reform passed by the Conservatives in 1988 was the Education Reform Act.

New vocationalism was a set of 1980s schemes designed to prepare young people for work, based on the argument that unemployment was caused by a skills crisis, e.g. YTS (1983).

False.

The 1988 Act introduced the National Curriculum, a set programme of subjects that all state schools must follow.

Parentocracy is the increase in parents' power to choose schools, giving them more consumer-like power over education.

Critics say the 1988 Act led to 'teaching to the test' because frequent testing such as SATs led lessons to focus on exam performance rather than deep understanding or creativity.

The education market is said to be flawed because parents do not pay fees, so a true market based on price and choice does not fully apply.

Under formula funding, schools receive money based on how many pupils they enrol.

League tables help parents by letting them compare schools on exam results, such as GCSEs and SATs, so they can make informed choices.

True.

To boost their ranking, some schools excluded low-achieving pupils, prioritising results over inclusion.

New Right thinkers support marketisation because they believe competition between schools raises standards, as underperforming schools must improve or face closure.

Open enrolment allows successful schools to expand up to their physical capacity, giving more students access to high-performing schools.

Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz argued that marketisation has reinforced middle-class advantage, as high-achieving schools cream-skim the most academic students.

Parentocracy is said to be a myth because middle-class parents can use their economic, cultural and social capital to secure places at the best schools.

True.

Poor results lead to falling applications and reduced funding, making improvement even harder.

Parents' choice of school was restricted because popular schools filled up quickly, and catchment areas and oversubscription limited options.

New Labour blended ideas from the New Right and Social Democratic traditions.

EAZs were created in deprived areas in 1998 to improve school performance through additional funding and private partnerships.

Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) was financial support to encourage post-16 students from low-income families to stay in education.

Sure Start was an early intervention programme offering parenting support, childcare and healthcare in disadvantaged areas.

False.

New Labour continued and expanded market reforms, retaining league tables and giving the private sector a stronger role.

The New Deal offered unemployed young people training, education or work placements to improve their chances of finding work.

Aimhigher aimed to increase university access for students from working-class families and ethnic minority groups.

New Labour's approach is seen as contradictory because it supported poorer students with maintenance allowances but also introduced university tuition fees and loans.

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a scheme in which private companies build and manage schools and colleges, which are then leased back to the state.

False.

Boys' achievement continued to lag behind girls' throughout Labour's time in office, so gender gaps persisted.

Tomlinson found that inequality widened, because middle-class entrants increased even faster than working-class entrants.

City Academies, announced in 2000, were designed to replace failing inner-city schools, often with business or voluntary sponsors.

Chitty criticised PFI schemes for being more expensive than planned, placing financial strain on local authorities.

Ball identified an Education Services Industry that profits from running services formerly controlled by the state.

Ball observed that the class gap in achievement persisted, as middle-class parents still benefited from cultural capital and school choice.

Ball argued that education is increasingly viewed as a product rather than a public service.

Private contractors challenge the New Right's view of efficiency because they often failed to deliver services on time or cost-effectively, undermining the belief that the private sector is inherently more efficient.

The Coalition government was formed by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, led by David Cameron.

Post-2010 governments built on New Right and New Labour ideas, promoting further marketisation, privatisation and school autonomy.

The Academies Act allowed all maintained schools to apply to convert to academies, with outstanding schools fast-tracked.

Free schools are state-funded schools run by parents, charities or religious groups.

False.

The Coalition abolished EMA in England in 2011, cutting support for post-16 students from low-income families.

The Pupil Premium is extra funding given to schools for each child eligible for free school meals, to close the attainment gap.

In 2011, the Coalition scrapped Aimhigher, which had aimed to widen participation in higher education.

Under the Coalition, the tuition fee cap was raised to £9,000 per year, voted in 2010 and applied from 2012.

The 2013 curriculum reforms emphasised traditional teaching, core knowledge and 'rigour', with tougher GCSEs and A Levels.

True.

The participation age rose to 17 in 2013 and then to 18 in 2015; training and apprenticeships count as well as education.

The Academies Act encouraged private sponsors and educational businesses to run schools, furthering privatisation.

In 2016, maintenance grants for the poorest students were replaced with loans.

False.

In 2014, free school meals were introduced only for children in reception, Year 1 and Year 2.

Marketisation after 2010 increased inequality by encouraging social segregation between schools.

T-levels are vocational qualifications introduced in 2020 to improve skills-based education.

The focus on league tables has encouraged 'teaching to the test' and narrowed the curriculum, e.g. reduced arts provision.

Privatisation is the transfer of functions and services once provided by the state to private businesses, often to generate profit.

Multi-academy trusts reflect privatisation because these academy chains operate like business networks.

Schools increasingly hire supply teachers through private recruitment agencies.

False.

Some major exam boards, such as Pearson Edexcel, operate as for-profit businesses selling qualifications, textbooks and revision services.

Under the Private Finance Initiative, private firms build and maintain school buildings, while the public sector pays back long-term leases.

New Right thinkers support privatisation because they see private companies as more efficient than state-run services and as offering greater parental choice.

Ball warned that privatisation leads to 'education for profit' rather than education for the public good.

False.

Unlike local authorities, private providers are not directly accountable, so decisions may be driven by profit rather than student welfare.

Marxists view it as part of a neoliberal ideology that opens up public services for capitalist exploitation.

Treating education as a commodity may deepen inequality because the best opportunities may become unaffordable to working-class and disadvantaged families.

Globalisation is the increasing interconnectedness of the world through the flow of people, ideas, information and economic activity across borders.

Michael Gove claimed his reforms drew on high-performing countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Finland.

The idea of free schools in England was influenced by similar models in Sweden and the USA.

Ball noted that elite British schools and universities now market themselves globally, opening campuses abroad and attracting international students.

False.

Global opportunities often favour middle- and upper-class students, who are more likely to study abroad or attend international schools.

Critics say globalisation makes education too economically focused because education is now driven by the needs of global markets rather than holistic development or democratic citizenship.

In 1965, Labour introduced the comprehensive school system to promote equality of opportunity.

The 1999 New Labour policy that supported early years in disadvantaged areas was Sure Start centres.

Gewirtz argued that marketisation and parental choice gave middle-class families more advantages.

The introduction of university tuition fees in 1998 discouraged some working-class students from applying to university.

False.

In 2016, higher education maintenance grants were ended and replaced with loans, increasing student debt.

In 2011 the Coalition scrapped the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and Aimhigher.

The 1988 market reforms reinforced ethnic inequality because middle-class and White parents were more able to navigate choice systems (Gillborn, 2008).

False.

Gillborn (2008) found that these programmes disproportionately favoured White pupils.

The 1980s teacher training change that aimed to reduce ethnic inequality was the introduction of optional PGCE modules on anti-racism and multiculturalism from 1985.

The Sex Discrimination Act made gender discrimination illegal in employment and education.

The National Curriculum required boys and girls to study the same subjects, reducing gender bias in subject choice.

GIST and WISE aimed to tackle gender gaps in STEM subjects.

GCSE coursework benefited girls because it favoured girls' learning styles.

Textbooks were changed in the 1980s to promote gender equality by removing sex-stereotyped language, images and examples.