Transcript Introductory Task

Starter activity
What do the following words mean?
Formal socialisation
Social control
Equality of opportunity
Vocationalism
Hidden curriculum
Meritocracy
Answer
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Formal socialisation - deliberately setting out to influence
people's behaviour
Social control - the way in which the social rules of the cultures
within which people live, affect their behaviour
Equality of opportunity - everyone in our society has the same
chances.
Vocationalism – Preparation for work
Hidden curriculum - the values that are passed on by schools
without people realising.
Meritocracy - the belief that the best people will do well in
education and get the best jobs
PEEA !!! What does it mean?
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The idea that Britain’s Education system IS meritocratic can be
illustration in a number of ways. A number of policies have
been introduced to ensure equal opportunities for pupils.
For example the Race Relations Act means that schools have to
take steps to eliminate racial discrimination.
However the patterns in education show that this has not been
successful as there are proportionately fewer ethnic minorities
in the best jobs and more of them in prison
This therefore shows that, as AH Halsey comments, despite
these policies, equality of OUTCOME is still not achieved.
Developing your points with critical thinking.
How might you develop these points to gain
AO2 marks?
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In 1965 circular 10/65 was sent to all LEAs asking
them to prepare for comprehensive education.
In 1973 the labour government lifted the age of
compulsory schooling from 14 to 16.
From 1979 Margaret Thatcher’s conservative
Government encouraged competition between
schools to drive improvements in education.
Evaluating the extent to which children have equality
of opportunity in British schools
PowerPoint 2
ARE SCHOOLS EQUALLY GOOD?
Policies encouraging competition
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Publishing League Table results
Encouraging private investors in schools
Setting up the Academy programme
Offering parental choice of schools
Publishing GCSE and A level league tables
Inspecting (Ofsted/Estyn) and publishing inspection
reports
Activity
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You are parents who are ambitious for your
children.
List five things that you would look for in a school
when you were making your choices.
How would you set out about judging a school or
finding out which was the best school?
Discussion Point
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Critical thinking is about looking beyond
the obvious ! Digging deeper to get the
truth and considering alternative
explanations.
Are examination results the best way of telling
the differences in the quality of education
provided between schools?
(4 minutes)
The best schools or the best pupils?
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The problem is that it is difficult to know whether
schools that produce good examination results are
actually the best schools.
Karl Turner found that schools with high percentages
of pupils with free school meals were unlikely to get
good inspection reports.
Schools with the best examination results tend to be
single sex female, fee paying or in very wealthy
areas and which select their pupils.
Discussion
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If you were a school in competition with others, what
kind of pupils would you want to attract in order to
get the best results?
What kinds of children would you reject from your
school if you had the choice?
SO here is the critical thinking part …………..
What impact has market led government policy had
on schools and schooling for SOME pupils?
Gorard and Tymms (2006)
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Stephen Gorard and Peter Tymms (2006) said that
pupils' examination results and schools' positions in
league tables are affected by
 family
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wealth and pupil's prior ability.
This relationship may be to do with factors that are
beyond the control of parents:
 poor
diet,
 poor health,
 and lack of resources.
Assessment
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Write a paragraph in answer to the following
question.
Assess the view that competition between schools
will encourage better education for all pupils
Show clear evidence of both AO1 and AO2 skills in
your paragraph – There is a research study that is
relevant to this topic !