Class Does Matter: Social Background Determines Success of Pupils - Essay Example

? Does Matter in UK Education> by Abstract The essay discusses several key changes in the UK governmental policies in the last two decades, in order to prove that in the UK education system, social background determines the student’s success and the fact that ‘Class Does Matter’ in UK education. Introduction I agree with the statement “Class Does Matter” in the field of education. In the UK, the social class gap in educational achievement has been always the most significant predictor even in this developed world. This has been identified as the policy concerns that lead to the broadening social inequality in UK. Recently, some approaches came into picture which focused on: a) Raising the aspirations of working-class individuals, and b) On the diversification of the education market. Here, both these approaches are reviewed as well as analyzed. As an effort to find the remedy to this situation, the previous Labor government aimed to ‘drive up the standards’ through the diversification of the market and increased competition. The government took various initiatives including the academic program, and further ‘freeing’ of the market through allowing schools to gain their independence from local authorities. At this time came the concept of ‘free schools’ which in turn helped in analyzing emerging literature works as well as standards. At this point in time, the concept of the marketization of education worked perfectly as desired as per the closing of the social class gap in the field of education, and giving a stronger purchasing power to the middle-classes (Huat See, 2004). It increased their ability to ‘play the game’ successfully to their various social and cultural capitals. Early Reforms During the decade between the 1980s and the 1990s, the then functioning governments made a lot of standard changes to the education system of UK (DCSF, 2009). Some of these standard mechanisms included representation of parents on governing bodies, parental choice and creating a link between student enrolment numbers and school funding so as to bridge the gap. The explicit aim behind designing these reforms was the improvement of pupil achievement. The policy makers have also been concerned about the existence of poor basic skills found in the UK workforce, in comparison to other nations, especially amongst the younger population. Keeping in view all these issues, a nationwide standard curriculum was introduced by the government for the students in the age group of 7-16, so as to ensure that every student studied a minimum component of the curriculum (DCSF, 2009). In recent decades, higher education (HE) has been an important policy area, subjected to frequent reforms. As per the prevailing trend, higher education has been reserved as an area meant only for the higher socio-economic groups. Although, the recent decades have witnessed a gradual rise in HE participation, the lower socio-economic groups still score low on relative participation. Additionally, there is enough evidence to support the fact that the economic value attached with HE has not collapsed on account of its expansion. Indeed, the value of degree returns has remained very much intact during the period. Beginning from the late 1980s, a number of policy changes have been introduced in the education system of Britain (Huat See, 2004). Depending upon the type of educational system, the main content of these policy changes went through time based variations. However, the ultimate goal behind these changes was the creation of a standard policy framework which would make it mandatory for all schools and colleges to adopt the improvement agenda, as prescribed by Labour as well as Conservative Governments. The FEFC (Further Education Funding Council) has made an attempt to achieve the below given goals through the adoption of funding mechanism (DCSF, 2009): 1. Enabling schools and colleges to obtain additional funds by bidding beyond the core level so as to encourage a larger number of students to pursue education. 2. Seeking to converge the unit funding level across sectors so as to improve teaching efficiency, resulting in the reduction of unit costs of high cost colleges. 3. Linking funding with successful learning outcomes so as to increase achievement and reduce wastage. 4. Encouraging under-represented groups of students to increase their participation in further education. Understanding Managerial Approach Burnham (1941) described an important social phenomenon in one of his works ‘The Managerial Revolution’ which explained Second World War as a transitional phase between capitalism and managerialism. According to him, the new social class, called the managerial class emerged and struggled to occupy the place of the old social class, called the capitalists. He also emphasized the Marx’s idea of class struggle, considered as the revolutionary transition between the ruling classes. According to the perspective put forth by Marx (Reay, David and Ball, 2005), the correspondent ideology that supports the ruling class automatically becomes the ruling ideology. This ruling ideology can be explained by the following concept: if the managers have replaced the capitalists to become the new ruling class, then managerialism must replace capitalism to become the new ruling ideology. By making use of this approach it was shown that ‘the means of production’ came under the rule of the managerial class that exerted greater control. The latter part of the 20th century, or more specifically our ‘postmodern’ approach witnessed the integration of Classic Capitalism of the 19th century to pave way for a brand new ideology. This popularly came to be known as managerialism. Here, it is important to identify the two distinctly defining characteristic features of this new ideology (Bartlett and Burton, 2007). 1. The first feature of managerialism pertains to the efficiency theory that is well described in Macintyre’s work, “After Virtue”. According to Reay, David and Ball (2005), the ‘manager’s attitude’ became the major ethic to be implemented during the 20th century. This attitude primarily deals with the techniques, along with their effectiveness, that result in the transformation of raw materials into final products, ‘unskilled labor’ getting converted to ‘human resources’, as well as ‘intellectuals’ to ‘knowledge workers’. The managers have the responsibility to give utmost attention to efficiency during the process of conversion. 2. The second characteristic feature of managerialism deals with the important role played by the decision making process, particularly in the public domain. In this view, managerialism functions in line with the Weberian tradition that considers ‘goal rationality’ as one of the best ways through which humans can organize their outside environment. This also throws enough light on the important American ideology of technocracy ((Coffield et al, 2005). Thus, as a concept, managerialism does not contradict equity, which implies that the process related decisions and policies are based on an objective as well as value-free knowledge. In a more practical light, the concept of managerialism denotes a number of developmental phases ((Maynard, 2001), as explained below: 1. The industrial relations came to an end with the attack on trade unionism and human resource management was born. 2. The new management techniques like BPR and TQM were elaborated. 3. The managerialism as a concept developed in the public sector, along with the spread of this idea in the universities (Maynard, 2001). 4. An attempt to eradicate all social/economic ills was made by proposing to lionize ‘management’. Over time, the whole idea of managerialism or manager’s ethics successfully became the new ruling ideology and its ever growing popularity seemed to suggest that it had completely suppressed capitalism. However, things did not look same from a different perspective. The recession which came into being during the middle part of the 1970s indeed resulted in a permanent shift of the economic conjuncture, thus bringing the Golden Age to an end. This newly emerged economic crises refused to get cured through the Keynesian economic recipes of management. These events, in turn, gave way to the economic theology that was ultra-liberal in nature (Coffield et al, 2005). The Subsequent Developments in Education Policies Although, the economists have a common belief that the neo-classicals (or neo-liberals) have a completely different set of opinions and assumptions as compared to the neo-Keynesians, each economic group has its own theoretical base that supports their opinions. The existence of their incompatible ideologies can be further understood in terms of the numerous debates between these two groups. The neo-classicals strongly believe in the powerful role that the ‘invisible hand’ plays, stating that efficiency and profits can be achieved through liberal economic policies, like not exercising control over private business and inflation. On the other hand, the neo-Keynesians believe in the role of full employment, high wages, and Welfare State to stimulate consumer demand, and thus, fuel economic growth (Reay, David and Ball, 2005). Putting it differently, this ongoing debate is between the old capitalist ideology and the new managerial concept as a means of achieving efficiency. However, there is no end to this debate as none of the beliefs has proved itself to be better than the other. The popularly used term Bologna Process comes from the Bologna Declaration that was signed in Bologna’s Italian city on June 19, 1999. This declaration was signed by ministers who held responsibility of higher education of 29 European countries. In today’s date, a total of 47 countries are a part of this process, all members of the prestigious European Cultural Convention and committed towards fulfilling the goals put down by the European Higher Education Area (Felsted and Unwin, 2001). The active involvement of the European Commission, UNESCO-CEPES, and Council of Europe, along with the representation by higher education institutions, staff, employers, students, and quality assurance agencies is counted as another important characteristic and a major success area of the Bologna process. Most importantly, the Bologna Process aims to build EHEA (European Higher Education Area) that stands on the twin principles of international standards as well as academic exchange, and is able to attract not only the European staff and students but also people from all across the globe. The European Higher Education Area has the following goals (Felsted and Unwin, 2001): 1. Enabling students, graduates and higher education staff to have greater mobility. 2. Developing students as active citizens in a democratic set-up and for their future life, along with lending a support to their professional and personal development. 3. Making quality higher education widely accessible, that is based on academic freedom and democratic principles. 4. Organizing easy to read and compare degrees as per a three-cycle structure. Currently, national qualifications frameworks are being set by countries that are in tune with the qualifications framework provided by the European Higher Education Area. As the principles put forth by the EHEA (European Higher Education Area) are developed and implemented, it has resulted in a world-wide growing interest with regards to the Bologna process as well as the newly emergent European Higher Education Area. The Ministerial Conference that was organized in London in May 2007 witnessed the ministers adopting a strategy based on the below given priorities (DCSF, 2009): Improvement of information pertaining to the EHEA. Promotion of European Higher Education in a manner which enhances its world-wide competitiveness and attractiveness. Intensification of the policy dialogue. Strengthening partnership base cooperation. Furthering qualification recognition. The Recent Policy Changes Listed below are some of the major policy changes as these took place in the British education system since 1999. 1999 The Moser Report put forth twin targets for the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance), namely National Learning Targets and National Literacy Strategy. In this, pilot schemes were developed to ensure a greater level of success in the area of post-16 education. There was an aim to revitalize the downgrading inner-city schools through the Fresh Start scheme (Bartlett and Burton, 2007). As a result of these developments, National Numeracy Strategy was launched as a concept in September. 2000 On public selection, the Ripon Grammar School became the first of its kind parental ballot. A popular and wide-ranging Act, called the Care Standards Act, was introduced. This Act included various children related provisions, along with the creation of a Children’s Commissioner Post for Wales. As far as the city academies was concerned, there was an announcement by David Blunkett regarding the intention of government to develop an academy network-more like private schools financed by the State (Maynard, 2001). The England and Wales’s Learning and Skills Councils established the Learning and Skills Act on account of which the name City Academies was given to the city technology colleges. The first state school that got privatized was the Guildford based King’s Manor School. 2001 The comprehensive school history was re-written with the establishment of Green Paper Schools as the New Labours. In 2001, further provisions were made to the Commissioner’s role through the Children Commissioner for Wales Act. The new name given to the education department was the Department for Education and Skills (Coffield et al, 2005). An announcement was made by the National Assembly for Wales, intending to develop a fully comprehensive secondary school system. 2002 The Green Paper 14-19: Extending Opportunities, Raising Standards made proposals to be introduced in the 14-19 curriculums. The Education Act became one of the major Acts through which proposals were implemented in the White Paper of 2001 (DCSF, 2009). The Education Regulations laid down specifications which provided the basis for the classification of middle schools as primary-level or secondary-level schools. The government introduced a strategy, called as Languages for all: Languages for life, with an aim to teach foreign languages. 2003 The White Paper, which was called The Future of Higher Education, witnessed a controversial introduction and became the basis for the proposition of the Higher Education Act of 2004. As per this Paper, variable top-up fees could be charged by the universities. Workforce Remodelling was another initiative by the government that aimed at employing unqualified classroom assistants so that the workload of the teachers could be reduced (Coffield et al, 2005). The Children Act of 2004 was based on the Green Paper called Every Child Matters. The report of the Ofsted/Audit Commission: The Influence of School Place Planning on School Standards and Social Inclusion threw light on social divisiveness related to parental choice. 2004 A small majority vote by the MPs allowed for variable top-up fees to be charged by the universities (Refer to Higher Education Act of 2004). The inquiry attempts of Prof. Adrian Smith into mathematics education at post-14 level resulted in the preparation of The Smith Report called Making Mathematics Count. A massive re-building program for schools, called The Building Schools for the Future, was launched. As per the norms of the Higher Education Act, variable top-up fees could be charged by the universities (Bartlett and Burton, 2007). An announcement made by Jane Davidson, the education minister of Wales, resulted in the scrapping of tests for the age group 11-14 years. The White Paper of 2005, Higher standards, better schools for all, was based on the Five Year Strategy. 2005 Most of the recommendations made in the Tomlinson’s Report of 2004 were rejected by the White Paper: 14-19 education and skills. Independent Trust Schools were proposed by the White Paper: Higher standards, better schools for all (Bartlett and Burton, 2007). Most of the concerns of the Education Act were related to the inspection regime. 2006 The Commission for Equality and Human Rights was established by The Equality Act, having school specific implications. New rules regarding childcare provision, regulation as well as inspection, were laid down by The Childcare Act. UCAS, the university top-up fees, revealed that in comparison to the previous year there were 15000 fewer university enrolments (DCSF, 2009). Under the Chairmanship of Christine Gilbert, the report Cambridge Primary Review 2020 Vision was proposed, related to the 2020 Review Group teaching and learning techniques. 2007 The government made an announcement regarding the raising of SLA (School Leaving Age) to 18, mostly in 2013. As per the Education and Inspections Act of 2006, Ofsted was made ‘The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills’. Plans related to bringing about more flexibility in the curriculum of Key Stage 3 were published by QCA. The expectations regarding government’s vision for future schooling were set by the Paper: Teaching 2020. The Green Paper called Raising Expectations: staying in education and training post-16 put forth the argument that the younger population should attempt to be a part of education and training exercises till the age of 18. Diversity and Citizenship, the Ajegbo Report, proposed that skills be imparted to pupils so that they can actively participate in inclusive democracy, understanding and appreciating the differences (Kerr and West, 2010). The Education Department was divided into two: first, The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF, Ed Balls), and second, The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS, John Denham). New arrangements with regards to England’s further education and Learning and Skills Council were made under The Further Education and Training Act of 2007. 2008 Student loans were sold off by the government under the Sale of Student Loans Act 2008. An amendment to the Education Act 1996 came about in the form of Special Educational Needs (Information) Act 2008, related to providing and publishing information of children having special educational needs. New arrangements for providing social works services were made under the Children and Young Persons Act 2008. Education and Skills Act 2008 effectively abolished SATs for Key Stage 3 and the education leaving age was raised to 18. The Education for All final report was published Nuffield Review of 14-19 education and training, also the Testing and Assessment Report by the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee (CSFC) (Kerr and West, 2010). The IRPC Interim Report was proposed Interim Report of the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum. The revised version of School Admissions Code got published in December. 2009 The interim reports of Cambridge Primary Review called as Towards the New Primary Curriculum: Past and Present and The Future got published. Stonewall published the report Homophobic Bullying in Britain’s Schools. The House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee proposed the CSFC report: National Curriculum. The first report by the Steer Committee, Learning Behaviour (2005), was followed up by the Steer Report Learning Behaviour: Lessons Learned and the final report by IRPC Final Report of the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum (Kerr and West, 2010). A statutory apprenticeship framework was created through The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. LibDem education policies were laid down by The Liberal Democrats Equity and Excellence which were to be discussed in the spring conference of the party. Wide-ranging proposals, related to reducing the role of private consultants in improving schools and removing central government made prescriptions in teaching methods, were made in the White Paper Your Child, Your Schools, Our Future. A 10-15 year strategy was set out in A New Framework for Higher Education (Department of Business, Innovation and Skills). 2010 The final report of Cambridge Primary Review called Children, Their World, Their Education got published. As per the specifications provided in the Children, Schools and Families Bill, a proposal to implement changes to the home-school arrangements was made in the Steer Report: Behaviour and the role of Home-School Agreements. Based on the White Paper of 2009, Children, Schools and Families Act 2010 got published, but were reduced on account of impending elections. The wide-ranging Equality Act 2010 replaced 9 major Parliament Acts and hundreds of regulations (Kerr and West, 2010). Massive expansion of academies was proposed by Academies Act 2010. ?3.5bn cuts were proposed by the government in the school budget along with scrapping of proposals for IRPC primary curriculum. Cameron called for a decision review to scrap school sports partnerships. There was also scrapping of labours flagship policy, QCDA, future school building and extending free school meals. Most of the recommendations made in Browne Report: Securing a Sustainable Future for Higher Education was ignored. Fewer places offered higher education with increased tuition fees (despite pre-election promises made by Liberal Democrats). The White Paper: The Importance of Teaching that covered a wide-range of topics like teaching, behaviour, leadership, etc. was introduced. 2011 Education Act 2011 enhanced school’s powers in relation to behaviour and exclusion of pupils, reducing the power of local authorities and expanding the academies further. Recommendations with regards to the Early Years Foundation Stage were made in the Tickell Report The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning. The Bew Report: Independent Review of Key Stage 2 Testing, assessment and accountability stated that published test results represent a bigger picture and should be comprehensive (Clifton and Cook, 2012). The White Paper Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the System and The Green Paper Support and Aspiration: a new approach to special education needs and disability, were proposed. DFE introduced the discussion document Training our next generation of outstanding teachers. The Henley Report Music Education in England and The Wolf Report Review of Vocational Education were introduced. 2012 DFE gave a non-statutory advice through 2010 Equality Act: Advice for staff, school leaders, governors and local authorities. Admission Appeals Code and Admissions Code proposed the admissions code. English standards were raised by the Ofsted Report Moving English Forward. The Independent Review Panel proposed the interim Lingfield Report: Further Education Professionalism (Clifton and Cook, 2012). The House of Commons Education Committee gave the HCEC Report Great Teachers: training, attracting and retaining the best. Independent reviews related to the Department for Education and Department for Culture, Media and Sports were presented in the Reform White Paper of provision for young people and children with special educational needs along with the Henley Report Cultural Education in England (Clifton and Cook, 2012). The Independent Review Panel’s final report was the Lingfield Professionalism Report in Further Education. Specific standards related to learning, development and child care (from birth to 5 years) were set through Statutory Framework for the EYFS. Conclusion Many efforts were put forward by researchers to decrease the social class gap, but most of them were largely unsuccessful in reducing these existing inequalities. Various scholars started establishing a scale and worked towards persistence of the social class gap in educational achievement, acknowledging various complicated patterns keeping in mind various factors such as gender and ethnicity, and exploring the social class gap from the early years through to post (Maynard, 2001). As discussed year-wise above, the UK policy makers generally are intent on the educational achievement goal of ‘closing the gap’, by proposing various efficient strategies and innovative ideas (DCSF, 2009). During the post-war period, there have been several attempts done by people to reform the UK education system, but it was during the last two decades, that major steps were taken. Some of the abovementioned reforms have been designed to address various social related issues that students in the UK encounter, which once again highlights that ‘Class Does Matter’ in the UK education system. References Bartlett, S. and Burton, D. (2007) Introduction to Education Studies, Second Edition, New York: Sage Publications Clifton, J, and Cook., W. (2012) A Long Division: Closing the Attainment Gap in England’s Secondary Schools, London: IPPR Coffield, F. et al (2005). ‘A New Learning and Skills Landscape? The Central Role of the Learning Skills Council’. Journal of Education Policy, Vol. 20. Number 5, Sept 2005, pages 631-656 DCSF (2009) Key Stage 2 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2008/09, London: DCSF Felsted, A. and Unwin L. (2001) ‘Funding Post Compulsory Education and Training: A Retrospective Analysis of the TEC and FEFC Systems and Their Impact on Skills’, Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 14, Number 1, Feb 2001, pages 91-111 Huat See, B. (2004) ‘Determinants of Teaching as a Career in the UK’, Evaluation and Research in Education, Vol. 18, Number 4 pages 213-242 Kerr, K. and M. West (2010) (eds) BEra Insight: Schools and Social Inequality, London: BERA Maynard, T. (2001) ‘The Student Teacher and the School Community Practice: A Consideration of ‘Learning As Participation ’, Cambridge Journal of Education, Vol. 31, Number 1 pages 39-52 Reay, D., M. E. David, and Ball, S. (2005) Degrees of Choice: Social Class, Race and Gender in Higher Education, Stoke- on-Trent: Trentham Books Read More