UK Education Policy - Essay Example

? An Analysis of Proposed UK Education Policy ‘Improving Social Mobility’ This paper is aimed at providing deep analysisof improving social mobility as a proposed UK Education Policy. Social mobility is associated with the individuals belonging to the disadvantaged backgrounds who are striving for a better life style. It basically deals with the deficiency of varying skills such as cognitive and non cognitive. This paper will deal with the important aspects of social mobility including education, occupation and income. Several methods of eliminating inequality from the society are thoroughly discussed and recommendations are also made at the end of the paper with references to the famous and most effective theories and research works. An Analysis of Proposed UK Education Policy: Improving Social Mobility The Policy Problem The UK education system is currently facing many issues and problems in the way of proving quality education to their students. There are several proposed policies available to address these issues and the most important of them is Improving Social Mobility. It is aimed at providing better and advanced skills among the students so that they can easily and proficiently tackle with the current issue of Skill Deficit. UK has a comparatively inferior fraction qualified at the Level 1 and 2. For instance, 36% of the population is at slightest A level and 55% is minimally good at GCSE (Hansen, K., and Vignoles, A. , 2004). In addition to this the adult population residing in United Kingdom is facing huge literary and numeric problem solving issues. According to the record there are around 7 million people among the population who are suffering from educational and literacy problems. On the other side the proportion of people having problems in solving mathematical equations is even greater than this (DfEE, 1999). The younger generation of the Great Britain is lacking behind in the educational perspectives. Skills are strongly required in every field of work especially the literary and numeric skills. Since a person cannot do well on a given task without having and utilizing these skills. Hence the British population is facing huge and non negligible problems in career choices and building quick and consistent professional progress due to Skill Deficit. In the long run this is assumed to have a great impact over the larger proportion of the population which will lower down the economic development of the country. Overview of the Problem Initially there was a strong emphasis in the United Kingdom over the attainment of post compulsory qualification i.e. continuing education after 16. But the trends of 2009 have shown that only 80% of the overall population which is above 16 years of age is having full time education. It is not the case that UK has stopped its progress in the field of education however the much stronger efforts made by other countries have put United Kingdom in to a much competitive market. Apart from this the percentage of the younger generation who comes under NEET (not in education, employment or training) has significantly increased in the last few years which have a deep relationship of the skill development of students under 16. It is also noticed that students who have the opportunity of gaining basic education are not availing it to its fullest. Students at the age of 16 or below are having lower grades and poor performance over the examinations. It is a fact that the UK organizations give higher wages and salaries to their employees for very basic and essential skills as compared to the other countries in OEDC. This clearly reflects that UK does not have exceptionally skilled workers and that they do not have choice other than to appoint them. United Kingdom has a greater proportion of unqualified and unskilled individuals as compared to its significant competitors for instance, 60% population of Germany has the intermediate education whereas UK have only 48%. Similarly another major competitor of UK such as Canada has 49% of high higher education level while UK has only 32% (David Marsden, 2011). Policy Analysis Access to the better and improved quality of education is a basic right of every individual which has to be fulfilled at any cost by the authorities working in the educational sector. Education is one of the keys that lead an individual out of the poverty and misery. It helps them to achieve a comparatively recognizable status in the society. However, in the current situation there is an intense issue of social mobility which has become a barrier in the skill development of individuals leading them to further decline in terms of economics and education. It is becoming increasingly important for the educational authorities to change their policies so that the present situation of inequality can be eradicated and a better system can easily be achieved. The fresh studies undertaken by the Economic and Social Research Council suggests that students from comparatively lower background face intense social issues as they are most of the time inconvenient in conversing with others and lack basic skills of attention and performance (Kelly,Y., et. all 2011). The basic and most important aspect of social mobility is to provide social support and assurance to the people in all walks of life so that they can attain higher standards of living. Among the social institutions the most prominent one is the family institution which plays a major role in embedding the skills and abilities in an individual. Children who perform poor or below average at school are usually consider having a poor or illegitimate attention from parents and elders which had forced them to become such ignorant and aggressive. In the same way children of rich families enjoy better and prolonged educational facilities whereas the children from poor families hardly have these opportunities (Goodman,A. and Gregg, P., 2010). Therefore is has been suggested that in order to improve the social mobility the foremost step is to strengthen the family system in UK so that children can gain the basic skills of communication and learning through their parents. In has also been noticed that children who do not have at least the average facilities for attaining better education have lower cognitive development and thinking procedures which ultimately leads to skill deficit (Blanden, J. and Machin, S., 2010). This also provokes a sense of inequality among the masses when people do not have the equal growing and developing opportunities they fall prey to crime and other unethical activities harming the society to a much broader extent. Data gathered by the London Longitudinal Study of young people represents that the children from well educated background show inclination towards further studies at least up to the secondary school as compared to those whose parents are not so much educated (Del Bono, E. and Ermisch, J., forthcoming). This reflects the answer for the lower proportion of students in full time study programs after 16 years of age because after the secondary education many of the students leave their studies due to lack of family attention and other related factors. Poor educational background and lack of attention from parents de – motivate students to pursue further education which further ruins their skills development and finally they end up nowhere in performing their positive role for the development of the society. All these factors strongly emphasizes upon the need of improving the social mobility so that the less advanced students and individuals of the society can also excel in their lives. This puts another element in to the context and that is the introduction of education mobility which means that the inequality among the students of educated and non- educated families should be removed and they both should be given the equal chances in life. It is also necessary because the education mobility has not changed since the last generations which is causing a drop down of quality educational environment for the students and for the concerned parents as well (Ermisch, J. and Del Bono, E., 2010). To remove the barriers of skill deficit and to attain better social mobility in order to be successful in life, longer stay at the educational institutions is required. However this cannot be done overnight it takes a lot of time and struggle to achieve social mobility. At the initial point the schools would have to perform their part by reorganizing their policies and objectives. This should not include the inducement of grammar and secondary moderns because they are no more useful for the development of children and students. It will not be beneficial in terms of giving rise to social mobility (Boliver,V. and Swift,A., 2011). To improve the social mobility it would be better to have an Academy schools rather than the secondary modern schools and it is pretty much evident by the research conducted by Centre for the Economics of Education. The results of this study reflect that it is more feasible to have a school structure based on Autonomous Education. This can be done by converting the current structure in to the Academy Structure. It will surely help to increase the productivity of the educational sector employees and will also have a very positive effect over the performance level of the students. It was also noted during the research that the there are substantial effects over the students of one school as compared to its competitors. The conclusion made for the Academic Schools was the strongest one hence proving to be a sign of success. The Academic schools are the one who also enjoy the largest School Independence (Machin, S and.Vernoit, J., 2011). The current economic condition especially in the educational sector requires some significant changes as far as the social mobility is concerned. The establishment of Academic Schools can help a lot in this regard as they offer more independence to the individual schools, enable more competition and help students to maintain upward trend in attaining education. When the things are more in the hands of the school management then it is expected to have better performance level from the individual students. Another interesting aspect about the social mobility is that it is greatly influenced by the funding made to the educational programs. Because when there are improved educational opportunities and large funding from especially the government authorities then it would be significantly possible to remove the prevailing inequality from the society. The ESRC which is the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) conducted an assessment of the education policies and the school structures. The conclusion made by this study reflected that introducing ‘pupil premium’ for the poor and lacked behind students who cannot afford to have the higher education for any reason will pull them towards a opportunity of educating themselves which will lead to the eradication of inequality from the overall schools’ environment and this can only be done through the increased funding to the school authorities with perfect allocation of human and monetary resources (McNally, S., 2010). However it is more practical that the local government and the authorities make their own funding programs and formulae. To do this they can take in consideration the deficiency of their resources and abilities to excel, they would also have to make decision that to what extent they need change or the conversion to the academic system. This will remove the problem which arises when schools facing the same sort of issues and problems are allocated with different financial supports on the basis of their location and other irrelevant aspects. Therefore it can be assumed that the people who are at disadvantage in terms of economics will benefit from the increased funding programs. The significant factors of social mobility are income, education and occupation which are manipulated at different degrees to achieve equality among the overall population. Mostly the policies made for improving social mobility are particularly for the weakest individuals who possess very few skills comparatively. Building cognitive skills in individuals is very expensive and at the same time it is also very difficult to have success in it. It is mainly done through an increase in wages and salaries. However the research shows that there are other ways of improving social mobility are also present which are more effective and efficient (McIntosh, 2010). Cognitive and non-cognitive skills both are substantial in explaining the social mobility but the concept of developing it through cognitive skills of weak individuals is slightly more difficult and time taking while it is true for some individuals that an increase in wages put positive impact over their productivity (Jenkins, A., 2002). Conclusion It is observed in the recent times that there is an increase in demand of skills in UK (Goldin, C. and Katz, L., 2008). This emphasizes upon the intense need of skilled workers and employees all over the country. In addition to this the UK market is eliminating employees with the average or intermediate skills (Autor, D., 2010). The social mobility is very closely affiliated with the development and upbringing of a child. The interferences made in child development are sometimes made to be more effective on the cognitive achievement or it becomes an unavoidable requirement in order to be successful in the later life (Esping-Andersen, G. (2004). However, the idea forwarded by Blakemore, S. J. (2010) indicates that the cognitive development also occurs at adolescence and early adulthood. The early cognitive development is important for the future academics of a child but the study shows that there other interventions as well which encourages or discourages a student to enroll in full-time education after crossing the age of 16 though their abilities still have an effect over their social mobility (Jackson, M., 2007). Monetary and timely investment at the same age in developing different skills is also complementary to one another. For instance, behavior affects the understanding of children in the class however the effectiveness of the understanding may or may not be present there. Individuals possessing both cognitive and non-cognitive skills enjoy increased returns as compared to others in the market (Weinberger, C., 2010). This indicates that investment in both cognitive and non cognitive skills is equally important. Another proof of the importance of non cognitive skills is that the improvement in non-cognitive skills has a direct relationship with the social mobility in terms of increased productivity and reducing the unequal wages which makes it exceptionally significant as compared to other skills and abilities (Gregg. et. al., 2007). The high need of skilled workers in the UK as compared to the major competitors suggests the extreme shortage of cognitive and non cognitive skills among the employees and students (Machin, S. & Vignoles, A. (2005). In addition to this the reduction in vocational courses has also created an environment of inequality (Dearden, L., 2002). Therefore individuals are required to advance their qualification through full time courses or by gaining advanced skills. Recommendations The Education Maintenance Allowance came up with an incentive plan in order to encourage the disadvantaged students from poor family backgrounds. The plan constituted of giving a substantial amount to the students who are willing to carry on with their studies beyond the age of 16. This has significantly increased the number of students applying for higher education (Dearden, L., 2005). Same sort of plan can also be used to encourage parents about proper cognitive development of their children. In this regard parents would be given an extra amount (especially mothers) so that they stay back at home and spend their time in the upbringing of their children. This will surely make significant difference in the communication and numeric skills of school going children. Apart from this the adults should also be given free classes for skill development as we have observed that cognitive and non cognitive skills do have a room for improvement until adulthood. The socio economic differences among the population are mainly because of inequality at the school level and the educational attainment which further leads to noteworthy differences in choice of studying after 16 (Chowdry, H., 2010). This can be controlled by establishing the same academic structure throughout the country with similar expenses and rewards so that the inequality on the basis of education can be eradicated. In addition to this the social mobility can also be improved by the individual participation at the school level for this the teachers would have to inspire students to some celebrity or social model in order to realize them the ultimate outcomes of good education (Nguyen, T., 2008). References Autor, D. (2010) “The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the U.S. Labor Market Implications for Employment and Earnings”, MIT Department of Economics and National Bureau of Economic Research, The Center for American Progress and The Hamilton Project. Blakemore, S. J. (2010). The developing social brain: implications for education, Neuron 65(6), 744-747. Blanden, J. and Machin, S. (2010) Changes in inequality and intergenerational mobility in early years assessments. In Hansen, K., Joshi, H. and Dex, S. (eds), Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): the first five years. Bristol: The Policy Press; Jones, E. and Schoon, I. (2010) Cognitive development. In Hansen, K., Jones, E., Joshi, H. and Budge, D (eds), Millennium Cohort Study Fourth Survey: A User’s Guide to Initial Findings. London: Centre for Longitudinal Studies Boliver,V. and Swift,A. (2011) Do comprehensive schools reduce social mobility? British Journal of Sociology.Vol 62. Issue 1. 89-110 Chowdry, H., C. Crawford & A. Goodman (2010), The role of attitudes and behaviors in explaining socio-economic differences in attainment at age 16, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 59-76 David Marsden (2011). Employment in the Lean Years: Policy and Prospects for the Next Decade: Trends in education achievement and skills. Oxford University Press. Dearden, L., McIntosh, S., Myck, M and Vignoles, A. (2002) ‘The Returns to Academic, Vocational and Basic Skills in Britain’, Bulletin of Economic Research, vol 54, no. 3, pp. 249-274. Dearden, L., Emmerson, C., Frayne, C. and Meghir, C. (2005), ‘Education and School Drop-Out Rates’, forthcoming Centre for the Economics of Education Discussion Paper. Del Bono, E. and Ermisch, J. (forthcoming) Schools and Inequality in Educational Acheivements. ISER. DfEE (1999): Improving Literacy and Numeracy: A Fresh Start Great Britain Working Group on Post School Basic Skills, chaired by Sir Claus Moser, Department for Education and Employment, London. Ermisch, J. and Del Bono, E. (2010) Education Mobility in England. ISER for the Sutton Trust. Esping-Andersen, G. (2004), "Unequal opportunities and the mechanisms of social inheritance", Chapter 12 in M. Corak, (ed), Generational Income Mobility in North America and Europe, Cambridge University Press. Goldin, C. and Katz, L. (2008) The Race between Education and Technology. Goodman,A. and Gregg, P. (2010), CMPO and IFS. Poorer children’s educational attainment: how important are attitudes and behaviour? Joseph Rowntree Publication. Gregg, Paul, Elizabeth Washbrook, Carol Propper, and Simon Burgess (in press). ‘The Effects of a Mother’s Return to Work Decision on Child Development in the UK.’ Forthcoming in The Economic Journal. Hansen, K., and Vignoles, A. (2004). The United Kingdom Education System in Comparative Context, in S. Machin, A. Vignoles and G. Conlon (eds), The Economics of Education in the United Kingdom. Jackson, M., R. Erikson, J. H. Goldthorpe & M. Yaish, The Transition to A-Level Courses in England and Wales: Primary and Secondary Effects in Class Differentials in Educational Attainment, Acta Sociologica 2007 50: 211. Jenkins, A., Vignoles, A., Wolf, A. & Galindo-Rueda, F. (2002), The Determinants and Effects of Lifelong Learning, CEE Discussion Paper No 19, Centre for the Economics of Education. Kelly,Y., Sacker,A., Del Bono, E., Francesconi, M. and Marmot, M. (2011).What role for the home learning environment and parenting in reducing the socioeconomic gradient in child development? Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study, Archives of Disease in Childhood, vol. 96: 832-837. Machin, S and.Vernoit, J. (2011) Changing School Autonomy:Academy Schools and their Introduction to England’s Education, CEE Discussion Paper 123, London School of Economics Machin, S. & Vignoles, A. (2005) What’s the Good of Education?: The Economics of Education in the UK, Princeton University Press: Princeton and Oxford. McIntosh (2010) The economic value of intermediate vocational education and qualifications", UKCES McNally, S. (2010) Evaluating Education Policies:The Evidence from Economic Research. CEPEA008. Nguyen, T. (2008), Information, Role Models and Perceived Returns to Education: Experimental Evidence from Madagascar, MIT Job Market Paper Weinberger, C. (2010), The increasing complementarity between cognitive and non cognitive skills, University of California Read More