Education Policy and Inequality

Education policy - the plans and strategies for education introduced by the government
The tripartite System
1. 11+ exam determined which school you would attend
2. Grammar School ( leads to higher education), Secondary Modern School (w/c), technical school (few existed)
3. Criticsms
  1. Promoted inequality by channelling children into different schools by class
  2. Reproduced inequality as girls usually had to score higher than boys to pass the 11+
  3. Ligitimated inequality through the ideology that ability is inborn rather than achieved
Comprehensive System
1. Meritocratic
  1. A system where children have equal opportunities no matter what class, gender, ethnicity ect.
2. Still reproduces some inequality
  1. Streaming
    1. M/C put in higher streams, leads to SFP
  2. Labelling
    1. Even without streaming teachers labelled W/C negativly
  3. Catchment Areas
    1. Schools still reflected the class makeup of their catchment areas
3. Strengths
  1. Reduces class inequality, more meritocratic
  2. Increased Parentocracy, parents choose where to send children
  3. League tables raised standards through competition
  4. Schools get funding for each child the attract
4. Limitations
  1. Created myth of meritocracy
  2. Myth of paretocracy, w/c parents can't always choose
    1. Parentocracy - "rule by parents" the idea that parents have choice of which schools to send their children to
  3. Reproduces class inequality via streaming and labelling
Marketisation
1. The policy of introducting market forces of supply and demand into areas run by the state e.g. schools, encourages competition
Policies that aim to improve achievement by gender
1. Girls into science and technology
2. Women into science and engineering
3. National curriculum
4. Coursework
5. league tables

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Education Policy and Inequality

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	Created by MeganAbigail over 11 years ago