Education Policy: 2010 Educational Policy (AQA GCSE Sociology)

Academies, free schools and the pupil premium

• In 2010, the Conservative-Liberal Democratic Coalition government continued the marketisation of education as they:

  • developed policies designed to lessen the government's control over education

  • reduced public spending on education due to the financial crisis

  • introduced forced academisation, free schools and the pupil premium

New-style academies

• New Labour introduced old-style academies to reduce inequality in disadvantaged areas

• The Coalition government aimed for all schools to leave the control of their local authority and convert to academy status if they wished to

• This meant that funding for new-style academies would come directly from the government

• They could choose to not follow the National Curriculum and have more control over teachers' pay, term times and length of the school day

• Converter academies are high-performing schools that chose to convert to academies

• Failing schools are either shut down or taken over by sponsored academies or Multi Academy Trusts

Free schools

• Free schools can be set up by groups of parents, teachers, charities, universities, businesses and religious groups

• They are government-funded rather than under local authority control

• Like academies, they do not have to follow the National Curriculum, can set their own pay and conditions for staff and change the length of the school day and term times

• Free schools provide parents and teachers the chance to create a new school if they are unhappy with state schools in a local area, and that competition will drive up standards

• Critics argue that Free schools poach children from existing local schools, leading to reduced funding and poorer outcomes as it becomes harder to afford and recruit good teachers

• Free schools disadvantage the poorest children, as they are more appealing to middle-class parents who do not want their children to attend a local comprehensive, thus producing further inequality in education

The pupil premium

• The pupil premium was the Coalition’s policy to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state schools in England

• Schools receive extra funding for each student eligible for free school meals (FSM) or for students previously looked after by a local authority

• This funding is used to provide additional support for disadvantaged students (such as one-to-one tuition, revision guides, and funding school trips) to reduce the attainment gap

Evaluation

• Marketisation has increased the range of school types, which has created a chaotic system with too much choice

• Accountability for educational provision has been passed on to individual schools and academy chains rather than local authorities

• Academies and free schools are more likely than other schools to employ unqualified teachers, which impacts students from disadvantaged backgrounds

• Pupil premium funding may not be spent on supporting students but instead, cover budget cuts in other areas

• However, supporters argue that choice and diversity in education are beneficial in meeting the needs of individuals