Contemporary Issues in Learning UK - Term Paper Example

The educational system of the United Kingdom continues to go through reforms and processes in order to implement better programmes that are hoped to address and provide solutions for the problems, issues, and concerns that plague the whole system in general, and the students and educators in particular. Some of these concerns are the high price of quality education which is connected with issues of equity and equality, choosing and implementing the proper teaching pedagogy, issues on whether students are trained enough to be competent and skilled when they graduate, questions on vocational training, and new trends on continuing education. The UK’s Department for Education and Skills (2003, p.4) points out that our education system is still weak when it comes to vocational offerings and still provides a narrow academic track. About 50% of these young people do not a get at their schools five good GCSEs, especially in English and mathematics. In addition, many still leave school without passing any GCSE. These negative statistics have an impact on the social and economic sectors of the country. For the country to be competitive, young manpower must show high levels of educational standards. The changes implemented on our educational system are oftentimes based on research and theoretical propositions advanced by analysts, critiques, and people who work for the educational system itself. Many of these theories that have shaped and continue to guide the system were developed a long time ago. Some have given birth to newer theories, while some were results of criticisms and deviations from certain ideas. According to Reid (1978, pp. 10-12) Structuralist Sociology states that all individuals play a part or a role in society. This perspective on sociology is based on two theories: Consensus Theory (the most common example of which is Structural Functionalism) and Conflict Theory (reflected in many theories including Marxist Theory), which are not mutually exclusive. Consensus Theory states that norms are important because these are the consensus or shared values and beliefs of people. Conflict Theory states that society is created by the interests of people, but the levels of interests and access to resources are not the same for all groups, which leads to the existence of conflicts in society. Meanwhile, Interpretative Sociology, on the other hand states Reid (1978, pp. 13-14), emphasises the importance of man who is an active component of the processes in sociology. This perspective implies a more dynamic, incomplete process. It is only by knowing the views of people and their reactions to certain situations can understanding be achieved. People will have different views and behaviours on matters despite occupying the same relationships. Based on Reid’s (1978, pp. 10-14) definitions of sociology, education can be seen as a combination of both Structuralist and Interpretative Sociology. Students and teachers can be said to be playing roles, to be performing specific functions in education. However, these functions are not absolute and should not be viewed as separate from other roles people have in society at large. Students and teachers are also active components of the whole educational process. For example, students can also contribute much to the learning process by sharing their experiences and their own knowledge, thus, they can take on the more active role of teacher to their own classmates or even to their own teachers. Armstrong (1997, pp. 97-104) pointed out three issues that plague the educational system to this day—competence, pedagogy, and equity. On the issue of competency, Collins (in Armstrong, 1997, p. 99-100) states that the Competency-based Theory has positive and negative aspects when seen from an educational perspective. Approaches based on this theory can be seen as too reliant on behaviourism and has a tendency to be mechanistic. Armstrong (1997, pp. 97-104) states that although many scholars have argued against competency-based approaches, this system can still provide an alternative means of education and training. However, for education to truly mould students to become “competent”, there must be a balance between traditional formal learning techniques and ‘value-added’ informal learning approaches that are based on experiences. New learning and teaching styles must also push for a paradigm that is student-centred, co-operative, where students are highly involved or action-oriented, even though this paradigm might clash with the reforms pushed by the 1988 Education Act (Armstrong, 1997, pp. 97-104). Traditional educational pedagogy in government schools implemented a strict rule of obedience and rote memorisation. Freire (1993, p. 1-9) uses the term “banking” to describe this approach to state-sponsored education. This term suggests that education has become an act of “depositing” with teachers as the “depositors” of knowledge while students become the passive “depositories” who patiently accept, learn by rote memorisation, and reiterate whatever is given to them. This approach maintains that teachers are the all-knowing benefactors who justify their existence by believing that their students are absolutely ignorant beings. Creativity, transformation, and true knowledge do not exist in this approach, which is why this approach should be rejected. Marxist, Critical, and Liberal theories feared that this type of schooling may result in some subtle indoctrination and hegemony. Freire (1993) argues that the banking approach is oppressive and dehumanises both students and teachers. The author advocates for a more open and mutual problem-posing approach that promotes critical thinking while affirming the unfinished character of all human beings. Jarvis, Holford and Griffin (2003) add that teachers need to see the different ways people learn. These educators must also get out of their own comfort zones and gain knowledge of different teaching methodologies in order to implement new ways of thinking. Mill (1974), whose theories on contemporary liberalism emphasised the well-being of individuals, proposed that government should only have authority on the aspects of social life that citizens will not undertake because they will yield little profit. Mill (1974) then pushed for systems of education that are largely private rather than state-run. This proposal can hardly be implemented today given the high cost of living which forces some students to give up schooling or prefer public schooling due to the expensive fees implemented by many privately-owned educational institutions. However, contemporary liberalism did provide a philosophical foundation and gave a more active role for the expansion of compulsory public schooling because of its emphasis on protecting the rights of individuals, especially the students. It cannot be denied, though, that education costs. Cole (2003, pp. 488-489) writes that all over the world polarised economies show the wide gap between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. According to his research, he estimates that 125 million children all over the world cannot go to school even though some countries implement free schooling and about 110 million students have to stop schooling even before they can acquire the basic skills of reading and writing. Tuition fees, books, school materials, pocket money are the least of worries of children whose parents can hardly sustain their daily lives. Connected with the issue of equity, Cohen (in Haralambos and Holborn, 2000) proposed a functionalist theory. Based on Cohen’s observations, this theory states that children from the lower classes do not enjoy the same advantages as children from middle class families thus suffering from “status frustration” (Haralambos and Holborn, 2000, p. 357). Because of this children from lower classes are already at a disadvantage even before they start achieving something in life. As an example, Giddens (2001) points out that the language used by middle class teachers follows an “elaborated code” (Giddens, p. 512) that is quite different from the “restricted code” (Giddens, p. 512) that children from lower classes are used to. This has implications not only on pedagogy but on normal communication channels used in classroom settings. Although Cohen’s theory may be too general and may not take into consideration individuals who strive to rise above their stations in life, it does point out that society is still divided by inequalities. The UK government has committed itself towards enhancing equal opportunities for education by taking into account gender, ethnic, socio-economic differences into order to move beyond ideologies of liberalism into ideas of equity (Armstrong, 1997, pp. 97-104). However, the work towards achieving this goal is still in progress. Palfreyman (2004) presents the scenario that implementing a complete deregulation of all UK Higher Education Institutions’ (HEIs) tuition fees, schools must still maintain the level of accessibility that they have at present. As an example, Palfreyman (2004, p. 5) states that students from the upper class must be charged with higher tuition fees of around £12,000-15,000, those from middle class a slightly lower range of fees while still taking into account issues of affordability, and, finally, charging a minimal or even nothing for those from poor families in order to ensure access for all students. This stratification of fees will have to work despite the fact that the schools will have to give access to a larger number of poor students. However, based on economic theories of pricing and how much the different levels of the student-market can really handle, Palfreyman (2004, p. 98) states that schools that schools that implement this type of stratified fees may find itself out of the business of education or risking bankruptcy. It is because of these issues that new approaches must be designed in order to provide a better educational service to our youth. The Department for Education and Skills (2003, pp. 5-7) has determined a twin-track approach to put in more flexible actions (e.g. subjects like English, mathematics, science, and Information and Communications Technology will be compulsory; improvement and expansion of modern apprenticeship) into the current educational system and to build a consensus about long-term structural reforms (e.g. provision of a stronger vocational line up; offering a much wider set of choices for students using a unified framework of qualifications) that will emphasise development for students going through the 14-19 phase. According to the Leitch Review of Skills (2006, p.3), the UK’s skills base is weak when measured against international standards. Even if current schemes are implemented to reach the goals of skills development, the country’s skills base is still predicted to lag behind competing countries by 2020. To be able to become a world leader in skills, the UK must have 95 percent of adults with functional literacy and numeracy skills; go beyond the 85 percent literacy and 79 percent numeracy levels of 2005; attain more than 90 percent of adults who have Level 2 qualifications; move the qualification of intermediate skills from Level 2 to Level 3 in order to improve the value, number, and class of intermediate skills; achieve more than 40 percent of adults with Level 4 and above qualifications. In order to achieve these statistics, Leitch Review of Skills (2006, p.3-4) states that the following principles must be followed: skills training must focus on skills that have economic value and provide real returns; skills that will be taught and developed in schools must meet the needs of the labour market; frameworks, especially those used in educational institutions, must be adaptable in order to respond to future market needs; and current structures should still be used, but these can be improved by simplifying and rationalising their performance. The Department for Education and Skills (2003) hopes to solve this problem of training skills and matching them with jobs that are needed in the local and global labour force with the implementation of its programme geared towards vocational diplomas for 14-19 year old students. Five areas will be the starting line for this long-term programme: Information Technology, Health, Media, Engineering, and Built Environment. The government states that although our country’s university sector is quite competitive, our performance in vocational education has been poor. However, Allen and Ainley (2007) point out that going along the path of vocational education is reminiscent of the programmes implemented in the 1970s-1980s. In those decades graduates who could not get jobs were given state-sponsored training for two years. In other words, students who had taken up the necessary academic courses but did not meet the qualifications needed by the labour force were re-trained to gain new skills and to become more marketable. Allen and Ainley (2007) believe that the new vocational programme of our government is a way to provide an alternative track between academic and the workforce. Although this programme may create a new source of manpower, it may also eventually create a new type of social or class control over the youth. However, some people might also view it as a jump-off point of lifelong learning. As Jarvis, Holford and Griffin (2003) state the ultimate goal of education should be lifelong learning because people should never stop gaining knowledge and skills. Lifelong learning implies allowing students and workers to be up-to-date with the latest technology being used all over the world, and to be informed of the latest programs that can enhance performance and efficiency. This argument is connected with the growing trend of schools that provide distance education and online classes. In a way, providing avenues for and integrating a paradigm of lifelong education even among the young students may just be the solution the educational system is looking. This way of thinking may ensure that graduates will have the necessary skills to be efficient workers and to be globally competitive. References Allen, M & Ainley, P 2007, Education make you fick, innit? What’s gone wrong in England’s schools, colleges, & universities & how to start putting it right, second edition, Tufnell Press, London. Armstrong, P 1997, ‘Learning to be competent: contradictions in government youth training schemes’, SCUTREA, Reproduced from 1989 Conference Proceedings, pp. 96-104. Cole, M 2003, ‘Might It Be in the Practice that It Fails to Succeed? A Marxist Critique of Claims for Postmodernism and Poststructuralism as Forces for Social Change and Social Justice,’ British Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 487-500. Department for Education and Skills 2003, 14-19: Opportunity and Excellence, DfES Publications, Nottinghamshire. Freire, P 1993, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Continuum Books, New York, retrieved from http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/education/freire/freire-2.html. Giddens. A 2001, Sociology, Polity Press, fourth edition, UK Haralambos, M & Holborn, M 2000, Sociology themes and perspectives, fifth edition, Harper Collins, London Jarvis, P, Holford, J, & Griffin, C 2005, The Theory & Practice of Learning, second edition, RoutledgeFalmer, Abingdon. Leitch Review of Skills Final Report, 2006, ‘Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills,’ HMSO, Norwich. Mill, J S 1974, On Liberty, Gertrude Himmelfarb, ed., Penguin Books, London. Palfreyman, D 2004, The Economics of Higher Education: Affordability and Access; Costing, Pricing and Accountability, OxCHEPS, Oxford. Reid, I 1978, Sociological Perspectives on School and Education, Open Books, London. Read More