Education Policy

Education Policy • Tripartite Education system (1944) • Comprehensive Education system (1965) • Education Reform Act (1988) • New Labour (1997)

Lesson Objective To evaluate educational policy introduced by the Conservative Government from 1988. Education Reform Act (1988)

Education Reform Act 1988 Aims • To raise standards • To make schools more accountable • To run schools on ‘market principles’ and improve efficiency/competition • To give parents (consumers) greater choice • Creating an education 'market' so that schools were competing against each other for 'customers' (pupils). B • ‘Bad’ schools would lose pupils and close, leaving only the good schools open.

Education Reform Act 1988 Key Features • The National Curriculum • National testing (Key Stages/SATs) • League Tables • OfSTED • Open enrolment • Local Management of school Budgets (LMS) • Grant Maintained Status (GMS) • City Technology Colleges

National Curriculum 1988 Marketisation, Competition and Choice in Education Brought in by “New Right” Conservative Government’s “Education Reform Act”, to improve standards through competition; • Giving parents choice; • Schools running more like businesses; • League tables, • Testing; • Increasing the focus on Vocational training)

National Curriculum 1988 • A standard curriculum in all state schools (core curriculum) • Key Stages 1,2,3 and 4 • Specific targets/graded levels • Shifted responsibility for what was to be taught away from teachers to central government. • Three core and seven foundation subjects

Pros and Cons Pros • Compare performance of schools • Continuity when a pupil moved school • Central government control – raise standards • Same ‘diet’ for all Cons • Political interference in school ‘learning’ • Less choice – minority subjects ‘edged out’ • Not suitable for all – suits ‘academic’ pupil • Private schools not teach it

National Testing • At the end of each key stage • Ages 7,11,14 and 16 • Results published • Students pushed to hit targets • Previously pupil progress was tracked by teacher assessments

Ofsted • The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) was set up. • “Rigorous” school inspections every 3 years • Emphasis on inspection rather than support. • Aggressive system of naming and shaming and placing into “special measures” for “failing schools”.

Pros and Cons Pros • Teachers encouraged to get high grades • Performance could be compared • Student can monitor their own progress. • Schools held responsible for their progress and standards. Cons • Pressure on pupils • Many students fail and feel worthless • Schools become exam factories • Do not analyse ‘value added’ • Students may be more talented in subjects not tested

League Tables • Annually published results of school examination performances at GCSE and A LEVEL

Pros and Cons Pros • Parents can compare schools • Schools motivated to improve • Make teachers accountable for results Cons • Creates ‘sink schools’ • Doesn’t measure Value Added • Doesn’t take into account the socio-economic make up of schools • Schools manipulate figures, ie) attendance

Open Enrolment • Schools can take pupils from anywhere • Parents can send children anywhere • Increased competition between schools

Pros and Cons Pros • Specialist schools – more choice • Schools compete – raise standards • More popular schools received more funding (LMS) per pupil funding Cons • Least popular schools – less funding • Broke up communities • Minority subjects abandoned • Schools too focused on ‘marketing’

Grant Maintained Status • School opt out of LEA control if the majority of parents voted • Complete control over their budgets and how the school was run. • Free to select intake on basis of ability and interview

Local Management of Schools • Management responsibility for school budgets taken away from LEAs and given to individual schools (Head Teachers). • Much greater flexibility and responsibility now on Heads • 90% of school budget became headmasters responsibility

City Technology Colleges (CTCs) • A new type of school was set up in the inner cities • CTCs specialising in technology, the arts, maths and science set up in inner city areas • CTCs are independent of LEA and were intended to be financed by local industry

Pros and Cons Pros • Greater autonomy for headteachers –prioritise spending • Less ‘dictating’ by LEA • More funds at the disposal of the school. Cons • Some schools had more money • Schools avoided LEA specialist guidance in ‘progressive’ education • Entry examinations re-emerged.

So…what were the consequences of the 1988 Education Reform Act? • Greater choice • Competition • Meeting equal opportunities • Raising standards • Greater control and standardisation of British education • Schools and teachers now more accountable

Or….. • Reduced choice • Limited subjects in school • Unfair advantage in some schools • Creating sink schools • Destruction of ‘local education’ and the networks between schools and guidance from LEA • Schools becoming ‘exam factories’ • Too much parent power – interference • Greater pressure on students – a sense of failure • Greater admin and teachers losing their creative independence • Removed the ‘local flavour’ of schools and their catchment

Plenary Complete the following... The main changes implemented by the Conservative Government, that were different from the Comprehensive Act (1965) were...

Lesson Prep Read the article and complete the critical think sheet provided.

Education Policy