Education Topic Five; Marketisation and Privatisation

Education Topic Five; Marketisation and Privatisation

1. When New Labour came to power in 1997, Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the government had three main priorities ‘education, education, education’. New Labour policies tended to focus on social disadvantage and creating more diversity. Even though New Labour criticised many of the former Conservative party policies they still continued with marketisation policies. Labour’s policies focussed on more money for schools, more nursery education and smaller primary school classes. They established a national maximum class size of 30 for all 5-7 year olds, and allocated high amounts of money to enable schools to provide the staff, materials and facilities necessary for a high quality learning environment.

   • • Specialist schools - schools follow the core National Curriculum but also focus on particular areas e.g. Technology, Sport, Science etc. They could select up to 10% of pupils according to aptitude in the specialism • Numeracy/Literacy hours - dedicated times each week in primary schools to improve English & Maths skills. • City academies (2002) - private and public sector initiative to turn around ‘failing’ schools, often in deprived working class areas. • Curriculum 2000 (modular exams) - introduction of modular AS, A2 & AVCE exams for sixth form students. • Compensatory policies addressing disadvantage e.g. Sure Start, Education Action Zones (see LT on compensatory policies) • 15 hours free nursery education per week for all 3 and 4 year olds. • Further Education - introduction of BTEC’s, NVQ’s, Diploma’s. Also, introduced the ’new deal’ – which gave all unemployed people the right to education & training. • Higher Education – extended access to university education through the in
   • Evaluation of New Labour policies
     •  McKnight (2005) found that overall standards did rise under New Labour - with improvements to GCSE, A-Level & SATs, with a small reduction in class differences in achievement.  Tomlinson (2005) criticises New Labour policies for reintroducing selection through specialist schools; this favoured the middle class who were best able to get their children into oversubscribed schools.
     •  Benn (2012) contradiction in New Labours policies as commitment to marketisation conflicts with tackling inequality  Despite extending access to university education and introducing E.M.A, Labour increased tuition fees making it more difficult for working-class students

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   •  Bartlett (1993) – league tables encourage ‘cream skimming’ – good schools can be more selective and recruit high achieving (mainly middle-class pupils), as a result these pupils gain an advantage.
   •  Gerwitz (1995) – marketisation is advantageous for the middle-classes who are mainly privileged- skilled choosers. Gerwitz found that middle class parents used their cultural capital to know how schools admissions systems worked, visit prospective schools and use their skills and contacts to research different schools. They used their economic capital to pay for travel costs, move to the best catchment areas or pay for private education should they see necessary. They are able to manipulate the system to suit their needs.
   •  Popular schools get more funding so can afford better qualified teachers, facilities and resources. They can be more selective and ambitious which is attractive to the middle class.
   •  Ball (1994) – Found that marketisation has led to schools trying hard to attract the most academically able. It could be argued that this has raised standards.

3. An education market has been created by: • Reducing direct state control over education • Increasing both competition between schools and parental choice of school

   • Marketisation has become a central theme of government education policy (for all parties) since the introduction of the 1988 Education Reform Act introduced by the Conservative government. Successive governments have also embraced free market principles and have extended it further through their own policies. Marketisation means that schools have to attract customers (parents) by competing with each other in the market. Schools that provide parents with what they want (i.e. exam success) will thrive, and those that don’t will ‘go out of business.’ This idea is particularly favoured by the New Right.
     • David (1993) – marketised education leads to ‘parentocracy’ (rule by parents). This shifts power away from the producers (teachers and schools) to the consumers (parents) and encourages choice, diversity and an increase in standards.
   • Policies that promote the education market include: • Publication of league tables and Ofsted inspection reports - rank schools according to exam performance and give parents the information required to make informed choices • Open enrolment – provides opportunity for students to enrol at schools outside of their ‘catchment area’, allows successful schools to recruit more students. Adds an element of parental choice in schooling. • Formula funding – funding is based on student numbers, schools receive the same amount of funding per pupil • Business sponsorship of schools – attract more funding • Specialist schools – widens choice - aim to be local centres of excellence in their chosen specialism, and which to that end, benefitted from public funding under the "Specialist Schools Programme" and from private sector sponsorship. • Schools being allowed to opt out of local authority control e.g. to become an academy – allows for more control over finance and decision making • Allowing par

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   •  Bartlett (1993) - good schools practice ‘silt-shifting’ whereby they avoid taking pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the schools position in the league table. Schools with poor league table positions cannot afford to be selective and recruit less able (mainly working-class) pupils, therefore remain unattractive to middle-class parents. Overall, league tables reproduce social class inequalities.
   •  Unpopular schools find it difficult to recruit the best teachers or provide the best facilities, this is less attractive so further reduces funding. This produces more segregation between children from different social backgrounds.
   •  Gerwitz (1995) – working class parents are disconnected-local choosers who are disadvantaged by marketisation. They have restricted choice because of a lack of cultural and economic capital. Gerwitz found that they were less confident in their dealings with schools, less aware of the choices available to them and lack limited funds meant that their only realistic option was a place at the closest school.
   •  Ball (1994) – Found that schools spend more time and resources devoted to improving their image in order to attract students (school uniforms, mottos, prospectuses, videos, open days) and less attention is paid to children with special educational needs
   •  Ball (1994) marketisation legitimises inequality by concealing its true cause – parentocracy is not a reality but a myth as working class parents do not have the same freedom to choose which school to send their children to.

5. Coalition government policies (2010–2015)

   • The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government were strongly influenced by New Right ideas and introduced policies that moved schools away from local authority control and decreased the role of the state through marketisation & privatisation.
     • • New style academies (over 50% all schools now academies) – all schools encouraged to leave local authority control and funding was given directly to schools, more control over their curriculum, academy chains encouraged to share resources and good practice, poorly performing schools can be forced to become academies under the leadership of a high performing school. • Free schools – funded by the state, set up and run by parents, teachers, faith organisations or businesses, they are a way of improving standards & meeting parent’s needs – especially where existing schools are deemed as inadequate by parents. • Compensatory policies introduced to reduce inequality e.g. free school meals, pupil premium (see LT on compensatory policies). • Austerity programme – reduce public spending to decrease the national deficit, spending on school buildings cut by 60%, E.M.A abolished, Sure Start centres closed & tuition fees increased. • The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) – students taking GSCEs in
     •  Some critics argue that encouraging academies is a move towards privatising the education system. There are concerns that schools will be driven financially rather than educationally as success is highly dependent on good leadership and delegation of resources.  Free schools can increase choice and diversity and are responsive to local need
     • Free schools are divisive – the establishment of a free school is only realistic for well-off, educated parents (usually middle class). Evidence from the Department of Education suggests that free schools take fewer disadvantaged pupils and are more likely to be selective.  Austerity has reduced opportunities for working-class pupils – potential impacts on education achievement and university applicant

6. All government education policies have aimed to raise standards in education and create equality of educational opportunity. Educational policy development and change usually occurs due to perception that standards are dropping. Evidence of declining standards:

   • • Grade inflation (increase in better grades). • Increasing number of ‘failing’ schools. • Easier exams - modular/coursework. • PISA test results (world comparison rankings) – UK 2013 results - 23rd for reading & 26th for maths. Education policies change depending on the political ideology of the government in power at the time. This means that education policy is constantly evolving, and that’s why there have been so many structural changes to the system!
   • Conservative Party Policies (1979-1997) • See Marketisation below. • 1988 Education Reform Act – National curriculum and national testing. To improve standards and ensure that all students got the same high-quality curriculum, the national curriculum set a range for subjects that were to be followed by all schools in England. There are formal targets with formal assessments e.g. at the of Key Stage 2. Conservative Party Policies (1979-1997) • See Marketisation below. • 1988 Education Reform Act – National curriculum and national testing. To improve standards and ensure that all students got the same high-quality curriculum, the national curriculum set a range for subjects that were to be followed by all schools in England. There are formal targets with formal assessments e.g. at the of Key Stage 2.