Education Policy: New Labour 1997 (AQA A Level Sociology): Revision Note

Education policies 1997-2010

• The New Labour governments (Tony Blair and Gordon Brown) introduced a wide range of education policies between 1997 and 2010, blending ideas from both New Right and Social Democratic traditions

• Labour retained and modified the New Right policies of marketisation and encouraged some privatisation of aspects of the education system

• Their main aims were to:

  • raise standards in schools

  • promote social inclusion

  • improve working-class students' access to education

Key developments to reduce inequality

• 1997

  • The Labour government takes power

  • Expanded specialist schools to raise standards in specific subject areas

  • Primary school class sizes reduced to a maximum of 30 pupils for 5–7-year-olds

• 1998

  • Specialist schools are allowed to select up to 10% of students based on subject aptitude

  • Introduced free nursery places for 3- and 4-year-olds to improve early years education

  • Launched the New Deal: training, education, or work placements for unemployed young people to improve their chances of finding work

  • Education Action Zones (EAZs) were created in deprived areas to improve school performance through additional funding and private partnerships

  • University tuition fees were introduced to help fund expanding higher education

• 1999

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

  • Sure Start launched: an early intervention programme offering parenting support, childcare, and healthcare for families in disadvantaged areas

  • Excellence in Cities (EiC) replaced EAZs to continue raising attainment in urban schools through targeted support

• 2001

  • City Academies were introduced to replace failing inner-city schools, often sponsored by private or voluntary groups

  • Further expansion of specialist schools, aiming for half of all secondary schools to achieve specialist status by 2005

• 2002 - 2007

  • AimHigher (2004): designed to increase university access for students from working-class families and ethnic minority groups

  • Young Gifted and Talented programme (2007): aimed to stretch the most able students, including those from underrepresented backgrounds

Evaluation of New Labour's policies to reduce inequality

• Raised standards and Targeted Support

  • New Labour policies led to a rise in the number of students achieving five or more GCSEs at grade C, including improvements among some ethnic minority groups

• Contradictory approach to equality

  • Although Labour aimed to support poorer students through EMAs, they also introduced university tuition fees and replaced grants with repayable loans

  • These reforms may have discouraged working-class students from progressing to higher education, creating a paradox in Labour's approach

• Gender gaps persisted

  • Despite progress in some areas, boys' achievement continued to lag behind that of girls throughout Labour’s time in office

  • This suggests that New Labour’s reforms did not fully address gender-based educational inequality

• Class divide remained

  • Ball (2013) observed that the class gap in educational achievement between working-class and middle-class students persisted

  • Middle-class parents continued to benefit from cultural capital, school choice, and access to higher-performing schools

• Widening inequality in higher education

  • Tomlinson (2005) pointed out that although more working-class students entered higher education, inequality widened

  • This was due to the number of middle-class entrants increasing even faster

Marketisation and privatisation under New Labour

• While New Labour aimed to reduce inequality, they also continued and expanded market-based reforms introduced by the Conservatives

  • These included a stronger role for the private sector and school performance measures

Raising standards through competition

• Labour retained school league tables and required all schools to meet national exam performance targets

• Underperforming schools, often in disadvantaged areas, were closed or rebranded as City Academies, supported by business sponsors

  • The aim was to drive up standards through new leadership and investment

Privatisation of educational services

• Labour introduced the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to fund the construction of new schools and colleges

  • These were built and managed by private companies, then leased back to the state

• Private exam boards, SATs testing services, and some Ofsted inspections became outsourced to private providers

• This shift led to increasing concerns that education was being treated like a business, focused more on efficiency and profit than student outcomes

Criticisms of marketisation and privatisation

• PFI led to long-term financial burdens

  • Chitty (2014) criticised PFI schemes for being more expensive than planned, placing financial strain on local authorities

• Private contractors were inefficient

  • Chitty also highlighted that private firms often failed to deliver services on time or cost-effectively compared to local authority provision

  • This undermines the New Right's belief that the private sector is inherently more efficient

• Commodification of education

  • Ball (2007) argued that education has become commodified, meaning it is increasingly viewed as a product rather than a public service

  • He identified the rise of an Education Services Industry (ESI) that profits from running services formerly controlled by the state (e.g., school meals, testing, curriculum design)