British Educational Policies and Educational Inequalities - Essay Example

British of Educational Policies and Educational Inequalities Introduction The British educational policies have proved unequal to the task of mitigating inequalities among students. This essay is aimed at analysing the effect of British policies in curbing the inequalities in the educational system. With regard to this aim, the extant literature on the topic had been examined. This study reveals that there are many impediments to the British educational system that make the policies of the government futile. Racial disparities, poverty, school exclusions of the ethnic minorities, lack of cultural awareness among teachers are some of the important reasons identified for the failure of British educational system. Finally conclusions were arrived at establishing the fact that the British educational system does not provide equal opportunities to the various ethnic minorities, economically backward sections of society and the non – White children. Socio – economic Inequalities There is a close relationship between socio – economic background and school quality and performance of students via peer groups. Thus, there is considerable benefit from the academic point of view, for a student who attends a school with very few pupils from the lower socio – economic groups. Whenever, parental choice results in increased socio – economic segregation across schools, these peer group related influences will further promote socio – economic disadvantage (Machin & Vignoles, 2006). In the British educational system, children commence their schooling from diverse backgrounds, undergo different educational experiences, and finally leave school after having achieved markedly different results. Those hailing from the most disadvantaged and the poorest homes, usually gain admission to the worst performing schools and achieve the poorest results from the academic perspective. It continues to be a basic challenge to discover methods of ending this vicious circle of disadvantage, educational failure and limited opportunities in life. To their credit, the policymakers and practitioners of the UK have undertaken extensive efforts. (Kerr & West, 2010, p. 7). However, the reality is that their strategies have failed to obtain the desired outcomes. Moreover, it is an undeniable fact that individuals from the most disadvantaged homes display the least progress at school. Some of the policies that have accepted this fact are general or universal intervention that target each and every school, interventions that focus on the difficulties of schools in the deprived areas, initiatives that target the underachieving pupils, interventions that address the manner in which school systems are organised, and measures that concentrate on family and community factors (Kerr & West, 2010, p. 8). The impact of deprivation on the progress of children can be mitigated to a significant extent by schooling. All the same, the effect of schooling is restricted by factors that lie beyond the purview of the school system. Some of the more common impacts of schooling are modest improvements for the disadvantaged children. It would be futile and unreasonable to expect schooling to effect fundamental transformations to their lives. Notwithstanding this dismal situation, schooling can accomplish certain positive developments. There is considerable research to show that meticulously planned interventions in the area of school improvement can prove invaluable to schools in reducing the gap achievement between the less and more advantaged students (Kerr & West, 2010, p. 8). Moreover, collaboration between schools can significantly address inequalities across different areas. The British educational system that attaches greater importance to the price of its education and not the educability of the child. In this system, the challenge to the teacher is the financial cost of retaining the child in school and not the human cost of keeping the child out of school. The problem is compounded by the societal attitude that Blacks create the problem in the first place. This serves to promote the exclusion of Black children from education (Christian, 2005, p. 340). This serves to promote the exclusion of Black children from education. As such, socio – economic factors have a substantial influence on the educational achievement of children. In addition, the contention of the Swann Report 1985 is that the government s responsible for ensuring that every student is provided with the same opportunity and treatment. It is also responsible for improving the opportunities for change, through democratic and peaceful methods. Such a development requires adjustments to be made by the majority and the minority ethnic groups (Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups , 1985). Strictly speaking, what is required is diversity within unity. Race Inequalities In the year 1988, an investigation was conducted by the Commission for Racial Equality. This was with regard to the admission practices followed in the St. George’s Medical School. After extrapolation to other medical colleges, this study determined that there was an informal practice in these educational institutions, whereby a certain percentage of the seats were reserved for the minority students (Taylor, 1998, p. 130). These reserved seats were in proportion to the percentage of minorities in the general population. However, higher educational qualifications were possessed by students from Indian, Chinese or Black African origin, in comparison to the Whites. Moreover, Blacks of African origin, above the age of 30 years had the highest educational qualifications, among all the ethnic groups. Consequently, the quota system for university admissions was in reality proving to be detrimental for students from such ethnic groups. Significantly, these students were on the average, better qualified for higher education than the White students (Taylor, 1998, p. 130). In the year 1990, government agencies commenced the task of collecting data related to university admissions, on the basis of race and ethnic origin. It was established by this data, that during the year 1990 34.1% of Blacks with African origin who applied to universities obtained admission. Around 39% of Blacks of Caribbean obtained admission. This was in comparison to 46.1% White applicants who were accepted. With regard to the year 1990, there was a 7% gap in the admissions rate between the Caribbean Blacks and the Whites (Taylor, 1998, p. 130). In addition, the relationship between society and education have been examined from different perspectives. These vary between optimistic developments to pessimistic perceptions regarding its undesirable results. The developmental perspective attaches importance to economic growth, a trickling down of prosperity and the acquisition of skills (Literally speaking, 1998). This is contrasted by the fact that a few tend to dominate over the many. In addition, there is an escalation in social inequalities due to the spread of education, and the expansion and growth of communication technologies. It is generally conceded that the content and structure of education is related to development. The latter is affected by the international market economy. This is a global phenomenon, and education has to fulfil the requirements of the economy (Literally speaking, 1998). In addition, the performance of African and Caribbean students in the Education system is not up to the mark. This has been conclusively proved by several research studies. In addition, such students are not likely to realise their full potential at school. During the 1980s several studies had focused on the underachievement of such pupils in schools. This undesirable state of affairs continued in the 1990s, as demonstrated by several research scholars (Demie & McLean, 2007, p. 416). There is evidence to demonstrate that the decentralising of school finance and the enhancement of competition between schools can improve educational achievement. However, this could be accompanied by increased inequality as the richer parents would be able to take better advantage of an educational system that was more market oriented (Machin & Vignoles, 2006). This situation entails a production cost, as the better class of students from less affluent and social backgrounds are at a decided disadvantage. With regard to the UK, this issue is of considerable significance, due to the substantial number of poor achievers in its educational system. Moreover, members from high socio – economic groups are better informed and enjoy superior understanding of school performance, through league tables. Whenever the wealthier parents rely on this information to select the best schools for their children, tension will arise between policies aimed at mitigating inequality and strategies to improve standards (Machin & Vignoles, 2006). Furthermore, with regard to Black male children of African Caribbean descent, it is to be realised that such children have been invariably labelled as being aggressive. This process has become so firmly embedded in the psyche of the educational system that White teachers have very low expectations from such students. Moreover, any indication of dissent or disruptive behaviour by such children stigmatises them. This characterisation is perpetuated through every stage of the child’s schooling (Christian, 2005, p. 340). Such a system of classifying students, effectively brings about the exclusion of the child from school. Moreover, the outside world has created conditions that are conducive for the downfall of these students. Furthermore, the very presence of Blacks is considered to be problematic. Consequently, teachers deem Black males to be the repositories of every pathological aspect of the culture of Blacks (Christian, 2005, p. 340). Moreover, the settlement of Blacks in Britain has frequently been considered as an unwelcome and problematic situation by the Whites. This prejudice has made its presence felt in the education system of the UK. It is a disquieting reality of British society that Black children of African heritage are in the main, underachievers. In addition, these people are excluded to a much greater extent, in comparison to White children, in the context of education. In fact, a recent study had stressed that a state of crisis had been reached, with respect to the underachievement and exclusion rates of Black children (Christian, 2005, p. 327). It would be folly to believe that the extant negative experience of Black children in British schools is of recent origin. As a matter of fact, the exclusion and underachievement of Black students has been central to the education system of Britain from decades. An example is provided by the fact that educationalists have been attempting to identify and understand the reasons behind this exclusion and underachievement, from the 1960s (Christian, 2005, p. 328). Several social policy initiatives were utilised, in order to address the burgeoning Black population in British schools. These policies ranged from assimilation to anti – racist measures. However, the underlying perception among the Whites that the Blacks constituted a problem to their society and way of life was never discarded (Christian, 2005, p. 328). It was regarded in the White circles that the Blacks were a potent threat to the British way of life. This biased way of thinking was exploited by the British politicians who took full advantage of these apprehensions among the Whites. These politicians promoted anti – Black rhetoric, with the intention of benefitting from this latent fear among the Whites. Moreover, several of the mainstream teachers of Britain are culturally ignorant regarding the Black communities of the country. Furthermore, these teachers obtain their training under the British education system, which is singularly devoid of any pedagogical interaction with multicultural perceptions (Christian, 2005, p. 329). The performance of a Black pupil can be seriously undermined by the teacher who adopts the following attitudes. First, by indulging in blatant prejudice; second, by adopting a patronising approach; and lastly by deeming the ability of the Black student to be significantly substandard. These attitudes can be discerned among the teacher of this nation (Christian, 2005, p. 330). Strictly speaking, these attitudes are widespread and deeply entrenched, and they have a tremendous and destructive effect on Black children. In addition, Sivanandan had provided an analysis of a study relating to Black exclusions from the education system of Britain, in the 1990s. He has shown that exclusion is rarely the measure of the capacity of a child to learn. On the other hand, exclusion constitutes an indication of the strong disinclination of a teacher to be challenged (Christian, 2005, p. 339). Class Inequalities Furthermore, there has been a preservation of the social class inequalities in the higher education of the UK. This is notwithstanding the significant increase in higher education during the 1960s and 1990s. Inequalities with regard to the chances of procuring admission to higher education did not vary to any significant extent during the 1960s (Boliver, 2011, p. 240). However, in the 1990s there was some decline, due to the enrolment rate of the service class having reached the saturation point. With regard to enrolment to the best of the higher education programmes and institutions, the qualitative inequalities were seen to be firmly entrenched. The expansion initiatives of the 1960s and 1990s had little if any effect, with regard to these elite courses and institutions (Boliver, 2011, p. 240). With regard to social class differences in the context of odds of enrolment to higher education remained unchanged. This is a surprising state of affairs, because the more advantaged sections of society could have taken undue advantage of the opportunities offered by the new enrolment system. At the same time, the less advantaged could have been excluded from the new system. However, such a situation did not arise, and individuals from different social backgrounds have benefitted to a similar extent. All the same, the less advantaged groups tended to be significantly behind, with regard to their rates of enrolment. This provides grounds for denoting Britain’s higher education expansion as inclusive and not exclusive (Boliver, 2011, p. 240). Furthermore, a major challenge relating to school resources is the fact that additional resources are frequently allocated in a disproportionate manner to the disadvantaged students. Failure of the methodological design to comprehensively address this issue can result in an undesirable situation. A number of studies have been conducted in this area (Machin & McNally, 2011). These studies principally suggest that there is minor positive effect, on account of additional school resources. Recent studies have shown that this effect could prove to be much larger, with regard to students from disadvantaged urban areas. Significantly, most of these studies disclose that disadvantaged students are affected to a greater extent, due to school expenditure. This tends to promote policies such as the Pupil Premium, while portraying the danger inherent in reducing school expenditure (Machin & McNally, 2011). In addition, during the past three decades, there have been concerted efforts to improve parental choice, competition between schools, and accountability with regard to the performance of students. The available evidence relating to choice of school makes it very clear that such choice is not of much benefit to children from the lower socio – economic groups. A major reason behind this is that parents from the lower socio – economic groups cannot bear the cost of residing in the proximity of the more popular schools. It has now come to light that disparities in educational achievements among children are to be found prior to the commencement of schooling. The level of cognitive and non – cognitive skills among children varies with family background and the environment in which they grow up (Machin & McNally, 2011). The British educational system has failed to provide a broad curriculum that depicts Black contributions to civilisation. The reason behind this is far more serious than neglect. The realities that result in such failure are class, poverty and peer group pressure, in conjunction with their associated social ills (Christian, 2005, p. 329). Conclusion As per the above discussion it can be concluded that the British educational policies do not provide sufficient benefits to the ethnic minority, poor and the socially backward children. Racial discrimination is the major cause that affects the educational achievement of the disadvantaged sections of British society. Some of the other reasons identified for this unwelcome situation are, peer pressures, social class disparities, lack of knowledge among teachers for dealing with multi – cultural and ethnic minority children from various backgrounds. School expenditure also affects the disadvantaged students to a major extent. As such it can be surmised that the British educational policies have failed to reduce inequalities among the various classes of non – White children in the educational system. References Boliver, V., 2011. Expansion, differentiation, and the persistence of social class inequalities in British higher education. Higher Education, 61(3), pp. 229 – 242. Christian, M., 2005. The Politics of Black Presence in Britain and Black Male Exclusion in the British EducationSystem. Journal of Black Studies, 35(3), pp. 327 – 346. Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups , 1985. The Swann Report (1985) Education for All, London: Her Majestys Stationery Office. Demie, F. & McLean, C., 2007. Raising the Achievement of African Heritage pupils: A case study of good practice in British Schools. Educational Studies, 22(4), pp. 415 – 434. Kerr, K. & West, M., 2010. Social inequality: can schools narrow the gap?. Cheshire: British Educatinal Research Association. Literally speaking, 1998. Businessline, 19 October, p. 1. Machin, S. & McNally, S., 2011. The Evaluation of English Education Policies. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 January 2013]. Machin, S. & Vignoles, A., 2006. Education Policy in the UK. [online] Available at: [Accessed 18 January 2013]. Taylor, P., 1998. An Overview of Blacks in British Higher Education. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Issue 19, pp. 130 – 131. Read More