Politics During The Uk 's Education System

Educational policies researcher Joel Spring (1996) discussed many arguments and historical background about various education topics found in the United States. For example, Spring tells us about the historical development of the Common Schools movement and the underlying groups—such as workingmen and political parties—that influenced the movement. In addition, Spring points out some of the implications the movement had on religious, ethnic, and multicultural groups. One particular idea that caught my attention was from the chapter entitled, “The Ideology and Politics of the Common School.” Indeed, my entire conceptual understanding of K-12 education had been predicated on the idea that high schools were part of the original conception of public

In chapter one, Joel Spring covers the topics of the history and political goals of public school. From the beginning of the public school education system politics seemed to have a hand inside public schools. Joel Spring mentions about the controversial goals of education. The main topic for this chapter seems to point towards the political approach to the goals of education. Now not all goals are bad but they do have an underlining that can spark a debate whether it is between the parents, students, teachers, or politicians. Goals such as subject matter, patriotism, should public schools override the objections of the parents over subject matter. A good quote from the book “American Education” is “Education goals are a product of what people believe schooling should do for the good of society.” With such a simple definition of what educational goals are ends up being much scrutinized. Everyone has an opinion sometimes they turn out to be great ideas and other times not.

being rejected by universities because the thing they were good at it in school did not matter. This ethos appeal persuades the audience to believe of the displeasing points Sir Ken Robinson makes and changes their judgment in regards to the public education system as a whole. Moreover, the ethos appeal discussed within this speech does no

Education is considered a right in most first world countries and compulsory public education has been in effect in the United States for over a century. So, why do governments have trouble assigning a purpose to public education and experiencing student growth across the board? How can schools change their approach in order to ensure that their students are ready to create their own opportunities? Scholar and politician Winston Churchill notes in his autobiography, My Early Life, “But now I pity undergraduates, when I see what frivolous lives many of them lead in the midst of precious fleeting opportunity. After all, a man’s Life must be nailed to a cross of either Thought or Action. Without work there is no play.” (p. 113) From this it can be concluded that Churchill believes the purpose of education is to teach students how to be active in their community along with the importance of judgement and choice, in order to further the success of their country.

“Why should schooling change at every state border?”, was written by the Deputy Principal of Narrenwood Secondary College, Stephen Buckle, in response to the proposal for a national curriculum. Using a well judged tone, Buckle argues that Australia needs to have a “common curriculum” in order to achieve unity across the country as Australians are “one people”. Opposing this proposal an anonymous writer of, “A single curriculum is not the answer” published in The Age contends in a dubious tone that a “Canberra-controlled curriculum” does not support independence. A cartoon by Job also responds to the issue of whether Australia should have a single national school curriculum and is condemning of the idea. Throughout the three different articles there is a range of different tones used in order to create different perspectives on the issue according to the audience of the pieces which is aimed commonly at people involved in the education system as well the parents of the children mentioned.

Acting on the recommendations of the 1987 Black Report, the British government brought in the 1988 Education Act. Parents were treated as if they were customers and pupils became both clients and products. What is important about the act is that it involved increased state control over the content of education. The act brought; the introduction of the National Curriculum, with achievement targets set for all pupils aged 7, 11, 14 and 16, Schools being allowed to opt out of local Education Authority (LEA) control if the majority of the parents voting in a ballot wished to do so, the financial management of schools was switched from the LEA to the boards of governors and City Technology Colleges were introduced.

Children in UK take the 11 plus exam to gain admission into grammar schools. These schools have been present from the 1870's and as this article is being written, there are 232 of such schools spread across the UK. The child takes the exam at the start of year 6 in the hope of starting their new school in year 7.

It is a prime example of narrowing student’s education while they are still in the comforts of home. There are four main sections of the UK’s educational system: primary education, secondary education, further education, and higher education. Primary school and secondary school are mandatory for all students. It is also broken up into four “key stages.” At the end of each stage, students take assessments to show their academic progress. (Between ages five and eleven, students attend primary school, completing key stages one and two. Between ages eleven and sixteen, students attend secondary school, completing stages three and four. The typical path for a student in secondary school is to study broad topics between ages eleven and fourteen, before studying topics more in depth between ages fifteen and sixteen. After secondary school, they are finished with their mandatory education. If a student elects to continue into further education, they may choose to either earn more academic qualifications through more focused studies, or to pursue vocational qualifications through apprenticeships and other programs. Further education is still free to students, yet it allows them more say in what they will be studying, much like college here in the US. A student may then elect to pursue higher education by pursuing a degree in college (“Higher Education

In his essay, “Who Shall Control our Schools?”, Bryan opens up and shares his thoughts on the materials taught in schools and who should decide what is taught. Bryan examines the sources of information in this essay but specifically examines the role of teachers. I quote, “Professor Scopes has raised a question of the very first magnitude and the ones most likely to suffer by the raising of the issue are those who think they can ignore the right of the people to have what they want in government, including the kind of education they want”(192). Bryan perfectly shares the thoughts of most people during this time. The idea that government is becoming too victorian and needs to change based on what the people want, this is the same in education. This is important because it shows the conflict in Bryan’s head over religion and

(AC1, AC2, AC4.2) The tripartite secondary school system was introduced to society following the 1944 Education Act, this act divided schooling into primary and secondary levels whilst increasing the school leaving age to 15. During the same year, however, the secondary level of schooling was further divided into 3 categories - grammar, technical and modern. Prior to this act there was no segregation of schooling in place, known as elementary schooling. Grammar schools were intended to schools based around academia, technical schools were intended to be based around science and technical schooling and modern schools were intended to be consistent with ‘general schooling’ and education. The secondary schools children attended was not down to individual choice but rather an IQ test, the 11+ test. The 11+ test was founded by Cyril Burt on the understanding that intelligence was inherited, there was proof into Burt 's theory and it was identified that girls IQ level was often higher. The test was fixed to minimise the girls scores and allow only 20% to meet the requirements for the grammar schools. However this act was not successful as modern and grammar schools were equal in society and science was taught in grammar schools as opposed to technical schools, thus very few technical schools were instituted. By 1952 predominantly people were in modern schools, followed by grammar and only 5% in technical schools so the system proposed had failed to

Education both influences and reflects the values and aspirations of a society. It is therefore important to recognise a set of common aims, values and purposes that underpin a school curriculum and the work of schools in a range of countries (DfE, 2008). This comparative study will explore the curricula of England and Finland - discussing the history, structure and contents; and consider which of the above are more useful in preparing young adults for life in the modern society. With reference to the modern society, it is important to understand that what makes a society modern is entirely a subjective ideology. This takes into consideration that the views and expectations of one modern society may differ from the views and expectations

The Education system of England and Wales underwent a number of important changes since 1944. This essay seeks to concentrate on these major changes describing the rationale and impact they had on the British education system.

In 1891 primary education became free and compulsory for all children between the ages 5 and 13. Although some may see this as a great step towards equality, many found this an inconvenience as their children could no longer work for them; this in some cases meant families lost out on money and business. A Marxist would explain this as the Bourgeoisie transmitting the ideology to the Proletariat that capitalism is just and reasonable. Marx (1848) considers this ‘exploitation of the many by the few’. This can be seen in the schooling environment as it teaches you to compete with your fellow pupils by trying to achieve higher than them for a grade or position, similar to that society. They would also see it as training

The political systems in the United States of America, and the United Kingdom are fairly different due to several policies. The most predominant difference that could be deducted from their policies is the difference in selecting their government. The United States base their elections off of what is known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a process that was created by the founding fathers, written in the Constitution. Not only is it a compromise made between the election of the President by a vote in Congress, but also the election of the President due to popular vote of eligible citizens. In total, there are 538 electors that make up the Electoral College. However, for the President to be elected there is a required majority of 270 electoral votes that need to be won. If you obtain the most votes within a state, then you will win the seats of that state that help the potential President to get 270 electoral votes. The way in which the number of seats in each state is decided is through Congressional delegation; there is one for each member of the House of Representatives, and two others for the Senators.

The education system has impacted children in many ways and has helped to shape the future leaders of society. In this essay my focus will be from the Conflict/ Marxist perspective, which proposes that the education system is structured in such a way that some persons will benefit from it more than others and that it is intended to cause social reproduction of inequality. Sociologists and economists Herbert Gintis and Samuel Bowles argue (as cited in Haralambos and Holborn, 2004 p. 698) that “there is a “close correspondence” between the social relationships which govern personal interaction in the work place and the social relationships of the education system.” The education system in today’s society is considered one of the most