Education Policy and Inequality

Education Policy and Inequality

1. Education policy - the plans and strategies for education introduced by the government

2. The tripartite System

   • 11+ exam determined which school you would attend
   • Grammar School ( leads to higher education), Secondary Modern School (w/c), technical school (few existed)
   • Criticsms
     • Promoted inequality by channelling children into different schools by class
     • Reproduced inequality as girls usually had to score higher than boys to pass the 11+
     • Ligitimated inequality through the ideology that ability is inborn rather than achieved

3. Comprehensive System

   • Meritocratic
     • A system where children have equal opportunities no matter what class, gender, ethnicity ect.
   • Still reproduces some inequality
     • Streaming
       • M/C put in higher streams, leads to SFP
     • Labelling
       • Even without streaming teachers labelled W/C negativly
     • Catchment Areas
       • Schools still reflected the class makeup of their catchment areas
   • Strengths
     • Reduces class inequality, more meritocratic
     • Increased Parentocracy, parents choose where to send children
     • League tables raised standards through competition
     • Schools get funding for each child the attract
   • Limitations
     • Created myth of meritocracy
     • Myth of paretocracy, w/c parents can't always choose
       • Parentocracy - "rule by parents" the idea that parents have choice of which schools to send their children to
     • Reproduces class inequality via streaming and labelling

4. Marketisation

   • The policy of introducting market forces of supply and demand into areas run by the state e.g. schools, encourages competition

5. Policies that aim to improve achievement by gender

   • Girls into science and technology
   • Women into science and engineering
   • National curriculum
   • Coursework
   • league tables