Neoliberalism & The New Right View of Education (AQA A Level Sociology): Revision Note

Neoliberalism & The New Right

• Neoliberal perspectives, also called the New Right, view education through an economic lens

  • They see schools as part of a system that should promote competition, choice, and efficiency

  • Schools should focus on raising standards to meet the needs of the global economy

  • They advocate for greater marketisation, where schools compete like businesses and parents act as consumers

    • Competition improves standards and efficiency

  • Underperforming schools should lose funding or be taken over, while successful ones are rewarded

• Neoliberals believe that the state interferes too much in people's lives and should instead play a minimal role in society

• In terms of education systems, the state has failed to provide high-quality education, and its role should be limited to:

  • setting the national curriculum to promote shared values

    • Such as British history, Christian values, and citizenship, to promote social cohesion

  • ensuring a framework for schools to operate in

    • Via Ofsted, league tables, and standardised testing, the state helps monitor school quality while allowing school choice and competition

Chubb & Moe (1990)

• American sociologists Chubb and Moe are key New Right thinkers who argue that:

  • state schools have failed to meet the needs of pupils, parents and the economy because:

    • the standard of education is low, especially for disadvantaged groups

    • they have failed to produce workers with the right skills

    • they have led to high levels of unemployment

  • privately run schools in the USA perform better because they are accountable to paying consumers

    • They recommended a voucher system, where parents are given public money to spend on a school of their choice

    • This would force schools to compete, raise standards, and be more responsive to parental demand

    • Chubb and Moe believed this would create a parentocracy—a system driven by consumer power, not government control

Influence on education policy

• The New Right has had a major impact on UK education since the 1980s:

  • 1980s–1990s (opens in a new tab): Introduction of vocational education and marketisation

    • This was under the 1988 Education Reform Act

  • 1997–2010 (opens in a new tab): New Labour supported academies and performance targets

    • This shows New Right influence even under centre-left governments

  • 2010–2015 (opens in a new tab): The Coalition government expanded academies and free schools

    • This reinforced privatisation and parental choice

Evaluation of the New Right perspective

• While the New Right has had a significant influence on UK education policy, its perspective has drawn both support and criticism

Strengths

• Focus on standards and accountability

  • By introducing Ofsted inspections, league tables and standardised testing, schools became more accountable for student outcomes

  • These measures have improved results in some failing schools

• Promotion of parental choice

  • By giving parents the right to choose, schools have improved in attracting pupils

  • This parentocracy supposedly empowered families and encouraged innovation

• Influential policy reforms

  • New Right thinking has led to the creation of academies and a focus on traditional teaching

  • These reforms have led to higher exam results in some disadvantaged areas

Criticisms

• Reproduction of inequality

  • Marxists argue that middle-class parents are better able to exercise school choice due to their economic and cultural capital

  • This reinforces social class divisions

• Marketisation favours high-performing students

  • Schools are incentivised to 'cream-skim' the most able students and discriminate against those who require extra support

  • This creates a two-tier system and undermines the idea of equality of opportunity.

• Ethnocentric and narrow curriculum

  • The National Curriculum is criticised for reflecting a white, middle-class, Eurocentric view of British history and culture

  • This fails to represent the diversity of UK society and may marginalise ethnic minorities and working-class students

• Profit over pupils

  • The increasing role of private providers in education raises concerns about the commodification of learning

  • Marxists argue that when companies prioritise profit, educational quality and student welfare can suffer