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The influence of the Postmodern transition on education - Coggle Diagram
The influence of the Postmodern transition on education
1988 education reform act
The policies introduced in the 1988 education reform act were:
The introduction of the national curriculum
League tables
Formula funding
Open enrolment (parental choice)
OFSTED (in the early 1990s)
The main purpose of this act was to 'marketize' education or try and create an education market by encouraging schools to compete against each other so as to drive up educational standards.
The beginning of the neoliberal project
Ideology introduced by the new right in 1979
Drastic reform deemed necessary due to emerging global economy
Belief that education system as well as other public institutions should be run according to free market principles. (Often referred to as free market fundamentalism.)
The same principles which generate innovation in the free market (choice and competition) can and should be applied to public institutions
Neoliberalism is an economic philosophy turned into a social ideology.
Difference between classical liberalism and neoliberalism
Whilst both ideologies are connected with how we best ensure that people in society live free and independent lives, there approaches for achieving this are profoundly different
Classical liberalism
Focuses on citizens freedom and equality.
Moral and political philosophy
Small government
Neoliberal liberalism
Big government
Focuses on economic freedom
Economic and political philosophy
The national curriculum
The national curriculum required that all schools teach the same subject content from the age of 7-16
From 1988 all schools were required to teach the core subjects English, Maths and Science etc at GCSE level
The National Curriculum effectively standardised education and made it much easier for stakeholder to compare schools against each other.
League tables
The New Right introduced school league tables in which schools were ranked based on their exam performance in SATs, GCSEs and A level.
The tables are published in many newspapers and online.
The idea behind league tables was to allow parents to easily access which schools in their local areas are the best.
League Tables effectively ensure that parents are able to make
informed decisions
about what schools best meets their child's needs.
Thatcher's government believed that league tables would force schools to raise standards because no parent would want their child to be sent to a low attaining school.
Formula funding
From 1988 funding to individual schools was based on how many pupils enrolled to that school
Thus an undersubscribed school where fewer parents chose to send their children would decrease in size and possibly close, while an oversubscribed school could, if properly managed, expand.
Schools therefore where incentivised to compete against each other to attract parents and thereby secure funding
Open enrollment
Within the comprehensive system the school you attended was linked tot he area that you lived in (the catchment area)
Thatchers government removed this policy allowing parents to send their children to schools outside of their catchment are drastically increasing the amount of choice available to parents.
Specialist schools were also introduced to widen choice for parents.
This meant that high performing schools quickly became oversubscribed, these schools were then permitted to select students in accordance with certain criteria.
Ofsted
Established in 1998, OFSTED is the government organisation that inspects schools.
OFSTED reports are published and underachieving schools are shut if they consistently receive bad reports.
The state uses OFSTED as a way of ensuring schools are reaching the standard expected of them by central government.
Parentocracy
Marketised education is often described as a 'parentocracy' it is characterised by a transfer of power away from schools and towards parents
The producers of education (teachers/schools) are beholders to the consumers (parents).
Supporters argue that this encourages diversity of provision to meet the varied needs of parents, giving them more of a choice and raising standards.
Changes in education prerogatives
However, sociologists such as Stephen Ball argue that when schools are forced to compete in this way, there is an inevitable shift in educational prerogatives.
In an environment where schools need to appear attractive to parental consumers they are encouraged to engage in what some might call unethical practices.
High performance schools often engage in cream skimming (selecting higher ability students who gain the best results and cost less to teach) and silt shifting (offloading students with learning difficulties who are expensive and get poor results).