The main purpose of education in the UK could be changing. With the privatisation of the education system it has been suggested that the purpose of education is ever more economic structured instead of being social structured (Kassem and Garratt, 2009). Within this assignment, the author is going to look at what exactly privatisation is, how it is used within the education system and weather marketization can ever work in this complex system.
Originally, the market is palace where people come to buy and sell objects often to make a profit. Buyers want maximum satisfaction from the product they are buying and sellers want to find the best way to make a profit, yet at the same time ensuring the quality they provide the buyers is second to none. However, when there is an increase demand in the production cost the supplier needs to find money from a different source in order to keep up with the demand, this often leads to a decline in quality in other aspects. Suppliers also have to keep up with their competition and keep there prices as low as possible as well as competing to keep the quality the same. Sellers want their customers to be satisfied with the product that they keep returning and inform other people about your product. The market is specifically all about choice, you have the choice to enter the market and you have a choice of where you want to buy your goods.
Yet, how does this concept of the market link with the privatisation of education? It has been suggested that by providing choice and competition the quality of schooling will improve. So by bringing education into the market we can therefore start to provide school services for the lowest prices to run and children will be better matched to they type of s...
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...’ in Lauder, H., Brown, P. Dillabough, J-A. Halsey, A. (Eds) Education, Globalisation, and social change. Oxford: Oxford University Press
McElwee, M (1999) The Thatcher Legacy. BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/04/99/thatcher_anniversary/330546.stm [Accessed 14/03/2014]
OFSTED. (2013) Press release: Ofsted: too many of our brightest children are being let down in the state system. http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/ofsted-too-many-of-our-brightest-children-are-being-let-down-state-system Accessed:[ 14/03/2014]
Olssen, M., Codd, J. and O’Neill, A. (2004) Education Policy: Globalisation, Citizenship and Democracy. London: Sage.
Wilby, P. (2013) Margaret Thatcher’s education legacy is still with us – driven by Gove. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/apr/15/margaret-thatcher-education-legacy-gove [Accessed: 14/03/14
After listening to a panel with successful authors/philosophers who praise the British government and its higher education system, Fish shares his views on the “investor/consumer scheme and his logic behind the logic of privatization. He finishes his back and forth article with his opinion on the value of education claiming its value is measured by the ability to gain the most materialistic
School Choice: Followed the ruling on compulsory education. Parents have a right to choose whether their children go to a private, parochial or public school, or they may choose to home-school. Parents must accept any responsibility for their choice.
Social policy is based around the ideologies of those in government to ensure that every individual with in society is treated equally thought out life so that they are able to receive the same opportunities and access to all areas such as health care, education and welfare help according to their needs. Because of the harsh conditions that the country was, experiencing after World War 2 the Prime Minister Winston Churchill commissioned a report, Beveridge (1942) to try to overcome the country’s social problems and to help those who were suffering from the effects of poverty. One of the areas that the report covered was that of Ignorance which was considered the lack of education. The importance of education is seen as a vital stage in a child’s life not only as a way of teaching academics but also as a way to develop strong minded, independent and productive adults that will someday contribute to the economy and society. Politian’s have given education high priority and have implemented policies to help with the changes within society that effect the level and quality of education, which children receive today. These changes are happening at an exceptional rate, such as global recession, changes within families and environment. This essay will explore political ideologies in education and it will explore the areas such as gender, ethnicity, and social class and the effect and impact that these have on education within society.
Nitta, K. (2007). The Politics of Structural Education Reform in the Routledge Research in Education. London:Routledge.
Ferri, E., Bynner, J. & Wadsworth, M. (Eds) (2003). Changing Britain, changing lives. London: institute of education, university of London.
Education reform in the United States has recently come under scrutiny after many recent failed proposals. President George W. Bush implemented one of the most popular choices of education reform with his “No Child Left Behind” system. However, that policy reform in the past five years has faded to nothing more than a mistake. This mistake has haunted the education systems in America, but it is not the only reform proposal to shake up the school systems across the States. One new proposal that has caught the eye of some current state politicians is the idea of school choice. School choice is giving the option to parents to take their children to different schools, which is different from assigning children to schools based on the location of their houses. Does giving the parents of children an option to choose what school their child goes to create a spirit of competition? That is partly the goal with the school choice reform policy proposal along with many other facets that can completely revitalize the education system in the United States. The stipulations of this proposal involve a variety of suggestions to help strengthen the core of our education system.
Whitty, G. (1997). Creating Quasi-Markets in Education. Review of Research in Education (pp. 3-47). Washington DC: AERA.
John Taylor Gatto, in his essay “Against School: How Public Education Cripples our Kids, and why”, argues that the contemporary purpose of education in public schools is to produce “harmless electorate,” “a servile labor force,” and “mindless consumers” (28). According to Gatto, he is blaming public schools by explain that the purpose of education is to shape students to certain expectations and habits without their interests. He argues that students “want to be doing something real” (Gatto 23). Also, He explains that they produce a manageable working class and “mindless consumers” (27-28). His point is that students want to learn something new that help them in their life better than actual books from school which don’t apply their interests and their experience (23). So he recommends home-schooling as option to schools (24). Gatto claims that contemporary schools “adopted one of the very worst aspect...
Due to the recent investigation by the UN into Ontario's education system, it is appropriate to define what Canadians are entitled to as far as educational rights. The UN proclaims universally that, "Everyone has the right to education" and that "education shall be free," [UN, 1948,Article 26 (1)]. These definitions are very broad and far-reaching, and are rarely adhered to as fundamental human rights. "Many governments are inclined to define human rights in the manner most convenient to suiting their own political interests." (Boutros Butros Ghali, 1993). Essentially, there is no benchmark that compels any government education system to provide for a multicultural society. It should be interesting to see what the UN will say about the Canadian education system and whether or not they will set standard in education for a multicultural society such as ours. With no hard and fast guidelines how should the education system in Canada operate in order to become an integrative force in Canada.
The cost of McDonaldization is clear. In terms of standardizing education, the model is “anti-diversity, anti-creativity, and anti-democratic” (Kyhall. Online). As a whole, the consumption of the simple solution called education will not solve the problems. The modern world is much too complex to be solved in a single approach. Furthermore, education creates danger in the world by devaluing learning and dehumanizing people. Learning cannot be confined to formal allotments such as school or colleges, and in our changing times, it becomes even more imperative that education be not a product to sell but a tool to enlighten, a means to promote growth rather than division. This is the true purpose of education. And it does not come pre-packaged.
In 1971, a philosopher by the name of Ivan Illich published a book called “Deschooling Society” – a critique of education in modern societies which called for the imminent disestablishment of schools. His radical ideas highlighted the institutionalisation of schools and he advocated self-motivated learning that could only occur outside of formal school boundaries. Many dismissed his thoughts as impractical or too radical for his time and while schools did not in fact disappear, Illich put forward ideas that still hold some relevance to this day (Hart, 2000). This essay will discuss what Illich sees as the aims of education, how he thinks these can be achieved and what the outcome would be if these ideas were applied to the present-day education system.
Cole, M. (2004). US Imperialism, Transmodernism and Education: a Marxist critique. Policy Futures in Education, 633-643.
The UK is a democratic, multicultural and diverse nation, which prides itself on equality. Each local authority is responsible for providing and funding a cross-national education for all children from five to sixteen years old. Based on this information, it would be reasonable to suggest that there is no inequality in education, because the law aims to provide the same opportunities through a universal system. In retrospect the reality seems to be very different. Through evaluating sociological perspectives and theoretical and empirical research, this essay will analyse the inequalities within the education system and how it affects society.
Secondary education in Latin America originated from a French-inspired model grounded on two fundamental principles. On the one hand, education should be provided by the central state as a way to sustain the nation-building process. On the other hand, secondary education should train the elite responsible for the nation (Bruter et al., 2004; Tenti, 2003). Yet, the expansion of the capitalist economy shifted secondary education away from an elite-oriented model towards its massification in order to train the manpower required for national progress and modernization (Ramírez and Boli, 1987). Consistent with this organizational institutionalist explanation, different IOs such as UNESCO, the
...all and L. Zafrin, (2008) The Purpose of Schooling: Beliefs and Practices of Educators in British Schools, TERC Documents, Paper 6, Available at: http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=terc_docs, (accessed: 20/04/14)