The 1944 Tripartite System
Main aims
- Selective education – to provide different education to different types of student
- Equality of opportunity – ability not money to determine schooling for the first time
Details of the Act
- Tripartite system 11+
- 3 Types of school
Evaluations
- Sent MC to grammar schools
- Lacked parity of esteem
1965 Comprehensives
Main aims
- Equality of opportunity – one type of school for all pupils
Details of the act
- Abolition of TP system
- One type of school for each person
Evaluations
- Lack of parental choice
- Poor standards in some schools
- Banding and streaming along class lines
The 1988 Education Act
Main aims
- To introduce free market principles (more competition) into the education system
- to introduce greater parental choice and control over state education
- Started the privatisation of education
- Raising standards
Details of the act
- Marketisation and Parentocracy
- League Tables
- OFSTED
- National Curriculum
- Formula Funding
Evaluations
- Competition did increase standards
- Cream skimming/ polarisation
- MC more choice – cultural capital, skilled choosers
- Also, criticisms of league tables – teaching to test
- NC – ethnocentric
1997 – New Labour
Main aims
- To respond to increased competition due to globalisation
- Raising standards
- Equality of opportunity
- Increasing choice and diversity
Details of policy
- Increased funding to education
- Reduced class sizes, introduced literacy and numeracy hour
- Academies
- Sure Start
- EMA
- Tuition fees introduced for HE
Evaluations
- Early academies rose standards in poor areas a lot (Mossbourne)
- Generally better at improving equality of opportunity than the New Right
- Parents liked sure start but it didn’t improve education (improved health)
- Tuition fees put working class kids off (Connor et al)
2010 The Coalition Government and the Conservative Government
Main aims
- Same as the New Right
- To reduce public spending on education due to the financial crisis.
Details of policy
- Cut funding to education (Scrapped EMA)
- Forced academisation
- Free Schools
- Pupil Premium
Evaluations
- Standards have carried on raising
- Academisation and Free schools are both ideological
- Free schools – advantage the middle classes/ duplicate resources
- Pupil Premium – too early to say!