Impact of political ideologies on education policy Essay

Introduction Political parties with widely divergent views have a serious impact on government policies. If the government changes from extreme right to extreme left policies with every election, it would be impossible to make long lasting policies. A left-wing government may like to keep major resources in public hands while the right wing government may have a policy of promoting privatization. Fortunately, while this often is the case in emerging democracies, the countries of developed world have managed to establish certain common policies accepted by all major parties and a change of government does not mean political upheaval any more. In United Kingdom, policies of two main parties, the Labour and the Conservatives had considerable differences in their perception of how the country should be governed. Conservative party believes in market economy while the Labour party was considered a left of center party with socialist leaning. Both of these parties have elements, which have; extreme right views in the case of Conservative Party and extreme left wing view in the case of Labour party. Over the years these difference have narrowed considerably and the present Blair’s government policies of ‘New Labour’ are a far cry from the leftwing policies of the past. United Kingdom is a social welfare state and the public policy dealing with the social issues and programs plays an important role in the administration of government functions. The important elements of UK social policy are Social Security, Health, Housing, Education and Personal Social Services (welfare and children) [Alcock, 1996]. Both major political parties have their own views on the direction social policy should take and while maintaining the basic structure, both parties try to implement their own political ideology in reforming/modifying the social policies. As an example, when Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government was in power, it favoured private ownership of housing and privately rented housing, while the Labour government before her promoted public sector housing under the local councils. The social policy in the education sector has also been affected by the political ideologies of the ruling parties, For example, grant maintained schools set up by Conservatives Government under the 1988 Education Act were abolished by the 1997 Labour Government. Government policies have an immense effect on education involving huge resources. This essay reviews the impact of political ideologies of the ruling party on education policies since 1945. Butler’s Act Implementation Begins after 1945 The 1944 Education Act also known as Butler Act laid the foundation of the present system of education policy. The Act basically replaced all previous legislation and became the basis of post World War Education Policy. The implementation of the policy began with the first post World War Elections in 1946, when Clement Attlee’s government came into power. Attlee’s cabinet had Ellen Wilkinson as the Minister of Education as the Act had abolished the previous control by the Boards of Education and introduced a Ministry of Education. The new policy introduced compulsory education from the age of 5-15 with support services, such as milk, transport and medical support for children in the age group. Religious education was made compulsory but parents were given the right to withdraw their children from religious education. Local Education Authorities were to govern the system on a local level and managed by a Chief Education Officer appointed by the LEAs. The secondary education from 1946 onwards was said to be based on a ‘tripartite system’, Grammar Schools for the most able students selected based on a placement test at age 11, Secondary Modern Schools for the rest. The third category of Secondary Technical Schools was specified in the new Education Policy but very few schools of this type were actually opened. Until the end of World War 2, a national unity government (Coalition government headed by Conservative Winston Churchill) ruled the country and education was considered a non-partisan issue. However the differences in the education for ordinary people in congested, large class rooms in old buildings on one hand and high class English private education for the privileged elite was producing two very different category of citizens. This kind of education could not be a part of Labour politics. In the first election after the Second World War, the Labour party won a landslide victory and had the task of implementing the 1944 Education Act. Governments 1946 – To date In order to study the impact of political ideologies on education we need to compare the education policy with the government in power to monitor the effect of party politics on education policy. This information is presented below [Gillard, 2004a]: Period Prime Minister Political Party/Parties July 45- Oct 51 Clement Attlee Labour Oct 51 – Apr 55 Winston Churchill Conservative Apr 55- Jan 57 Anthony Eden Conservative Jan 57- Oct 63 Harold McMillan Conservative Oct 63 – Oct 64 Alex Hume Conservative Oct 64 – June 70 Harold Wilson Labour. June 70 – Mar 74 Edward Heath Conservative Mar 74 – Apr 76 Harold Wilson Labour Apr 76 – May 79 James Callaghan Labour May 79 – Nov 90 Margaret Thatcher Conservative Nov 90 – May 97 John Major Conservative May 97- To date Tony Blair Labour As we see from the above Table, during the last 60 years the two main parties in power have been Conservative party who believe in far-right to right of center politics [The Right Approach, 1976], and the Labour party which believes in socialist, left-of- center politics. The present Labour government can be considered as a Centrist party with its slogan of ‘New Labour’. The third major political party is the Liberal Democrats, which has a major influence in the country but has not been in power during the last 60 years. The nearest taste of power the Liberals had was in the Callaghan Government when the Labour party needed to form an alliance with them. Political Ideology & Education Policy Playing Politics with Education The governments in power have always used education to promote their political objectives. It is said that the reason behind the mass education plan of 1880 was not a concern to promote equality and education among the masses but due to a fear of civil disorder. When the unemployment became high in 1960s, the government fearing further unemployment as new 15 years old coming out of school will flood the market decided to raise the school leaving age to 16. The proposal of raising the school leaving age was originally made in the 1944 Butler Act but not acted upon by any government since 1946 [Chitty, 2004]. In the Education Act 1993, schools were made more accountable for the levels of performance of their pupils When the problem children in schools started impacting the school results, the idea of segregating â€Å"pupils with problems† was introduced to remove this source of embarrassment from the schools [Department of Education,1994]. The political ideologies and diverting the impact of political consequences of other factors have thus affected the education policy. Intelligence Tests Debate The placement examination in educational institutions consider the IQ at least a part of the assessment process. The assumption that IQ is a true measure of a person has been often questioned as children with social disadvantage often have a lower IQ compared to the children of wealthy, educated and socially established families. The IQ test gives an undue advantage to children who receive attention from early childhood while children living in poor, uneducated families appear to be at a disadvantage in these tests. The IQ tests have often been disputed, as they appear to have a class and racial bias. The selection at 11 years for Grammar schools was seen as biased as research in 1960s had questioned the theory of inherited intelligence. The Labour party, being a party of trade unions and the poor questioned the validity of IQ tests while Conservatives advocated the validity of IQ tests as based on precise science. Neutralizing Local Education Authority The post 1945 Education policy empowered Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to administer education at the local level. The local authorities of some regions are traditionally not pro Conservative Party and often were a source of embarrassment for the Central Government. The 1988 Education Act brought by the Conservative party attempted to take away the powers of LEAs. The Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher and John Major passed 1988 and 1993 Education Acts to have central control while neutralizing the LEAs. [Garner, 1998] pointing to the lack of discussions and building of consensus in drafting the education policy states, â€Å"The 1988 Education Act contained 238 clauses and took more than 360 hours of parliamentary time to debate. Its enactment gave the Secretary of State 415 new powers across the spectrum of educational provision. None of these were without controversy, resistance being most notable at local levels. â€Å"[Garner, 1998]. The Education Act 1986 reduced the powers of local government in administering education. The representation of local authorities on school boards was reduced and political indoctrination in local education was forbidden. The powers of local authorities were further reduced by creating city technology colleges and by giving Manpower Services Commission more powers in educational activities. Through these changes, the Conservative government succeeded in â€Å"stripping power from LEAs, thereby largely ridding itself of what had become, during the post-war period, a major source of dissent and criticism of central government action. † [Garner, 1998]. However, LEAs continued to have many of the old responsibilities such as education for children excluded from schools due to behavioural problems but the 1988 Act stripped their powers and resources to meet their responsibilities. â€Å" Opponents of the legislation have argued that, in bringing the ruthlessness of the marketplace into education, the first groups of children to feel the effects have been the disadvantaged and those children who have learning difficulties† [Garner, 1998]. The Conservative political ideology had a major impact on the education policy during the Thatcher and John Major rule. Comprehensive Schools When Labour Government (1964-70) decided to reorganize secondary education by introducing comprehensive education, many local Conservative Councils opposed the move. The proposed measure could not be implemented during this government and remained shelved until 1974 during the Conservative rule of 1970-74. When Labour came to power in 1974 the comprehensive school plan was revived and despite many disputes with the local Conservative Councils (Tameside dispute) was made compulsory in 1976. Introduction of Comprehensive schools improved the quality of normal school at the expense of Grammar schools and affected the quality of education. Grant Maintained School The market based education policy of the Conservative party had a major impact on education policy. The grant-maintained school created under the Education Reform Act 1988 allowed schools to opt-out of the LEA system to gain control over their finances and admission policy. Provisions of 1988 and 1993 Act were further modified in Education Act 1996 [Grant maintained Schools, 2007]. The number of these schools was small in comparison to LEA maintained schools, 1196 schools (5% of total) of all types (primary, secondary, special) opted for Grant maintained school while 21912 stayed under LEAs. The Labour party was opposed to the grant-maintained schools, as it would have created different standard of education while being maintained by the government grants. Labour Government abolished the grant-maintained school in 1998 under the School Standard and Framework Act 1998 and returned the control to LEA. The New Labour ‘Education Policies’ Labour party remained out of power for almost 18 years (May 79-May 97). The New Labour had to modify its policies of left of center to become acceptable to the electorate. This policy has worked and the Labour Party with its modified centrist policy has remained in power since May 97. The effect of the centrist policies on education has been more or less a continuation of the Conservative policies and it appears that finally a change of government will mean only minor policy changes in education. The comprehensive school and uniform education for all so vigorously advocated by Labour politics of the past is not under favour now. The new Labour policy now is ‘standards not structures’ meant continuing with selection policies of Grammar, secondary modern and comprehensive were continued by new Labour [Benn & Chitty, 1996]. Comprehensive schools, a symbol of uniform education are gradually being dismantled as the Government has announced conversion of many of these schools to specialist colleges; schools could win special status by wining business sponsorship. Under the new Labour policies, schools will be allowed to 10% of their pupils through competitive selection, grants based on performance and ‘name and shame practice of under performing schools were all the policies of the past Conservative governments. It appears that the two main parties have now found a common ground in social policy for education and finally the changes in education policies expected with change of government due to political ideologies will become history. Discussions & Conclusions The political ideologies of the left and right have had a major influence on the education policy during the last 50-60 years. The Labour party policy on education advocated a uniform standard of education for all to allow all sections of society an equal chance to develop their abilities. The Conservative policy advocated selective education for the more intelligent, market based reform of education system and parents to educating their children in private schools. The political ideologies of the political parties in power since 1946 had a major impact on the education system of the country. Changes such as comprehensive schools, selection of people for schooling of differing standards, grant based education system, empowering LEAs by one government and removing most powers of LEA by the next government have not been in the interest of education. The Labour party now in power has recognized that their voters are not prepared for the left of center government policies and it now appears that both parties will be following similar policies in education and the changes of the past will become less common. Bibliography 1. Alcock, P. , (1996), Social Policy in Britain : Themes and Issues, Macmillan 2. An introduction to Social Policy, [Online] retrieved from Internet on February 1, 2007, http://www2. rgu. ac. uk/publicpolicy/introduction/uk. htm 3. Benn C and Chitty C (1996) Thirty Years On – is comprehensive education alive and well or struggling to survive? London: David Fulton Publishers 4. Chitty C (2004) Education Policy in Britain Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 5. Department for Education, (1994), Pupils with problems: Circulars 8/94 – 13/94, London: DfE 6. Garner, P. , (1998), Vision or Revision? Conflicting Ideologies in the English Education System, [Online] retrieved from. Internet on February 1, 2007, http://policy. uark.edu/ritter/edfd5323-GarnerUKpart2. html 7. Gillard D. , (2004) Education in England: a brief history, [Online] retrieved from Internet on February 1, 2007, http://www. dg. dial. pipex. com/history/index. shtml 8. Gillard D. , (2004a). Education in England: a Timeline, [Online] retrieved from Internet on February 1, 2007, http://www. dg. dial. pipex. com/history/timeline. shtml 9. Grant Maintained School, (2007), [Online] retrieved from Internet on February 1, 2007, http://www. ndad. nationalarchives. gov. uk/CRDA/36/detail. html 10. The Right Approach-A Statement of Conservative Aim, (1976), Conservative Central Office, London, October 1976.