English Educational Policy. Contemporary Challenges in a Historical-Comparative Context - ebook

The book concerns contemporary ideological discourses, preceded by a synthetic analysis of the roots of political changes in education in England. The author focusses on trends and stages of educational development from the tenth century to the post-war reform of the education system in England. Also presented are the neoliberal trend in English educational policy and the genesis of the 1998 educational reforms in England and their consequences up to 2013.

“The book constitutes an interesting proposal in the field of educational policy in a historical-comparative context [...]. A monograph-like approach to the subject and a combination of educational ideologies and historical traditions with the new challenges facing English education constitute the value of this book.”

Renata Nowakowska-Siuta, Dean of the Faculty of Education.

Head of the Department of Teaching and Education School.

Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw

Introduction 11

1.1. State of knowledge of the ideologies of education and subject of study           11

1.2. Methodological justification of the research          14

1.3. Research methodology             15

1.3.1. The politolinguistic approach in the analysis of political rhetoric           15

1.3.2. Analysis of documents and study of discourses in political rhetoric      16

Chapter 1. The political system of the state, the school system, and democracy 19

1.1. The nature and content of the concept of “educational ideology”      19

1.1.1. Development of the concept of “ideology”: its origin and content          19

1.1.2. Features of contemporary ideology             25

1.1.3. Ideology and political doctrine     25

1.1.4. Pedagogical doctrine     26

1.1.5. Classifications of political thought               27

1.2. Democracy, the political system of the state and ideology education                29

1.2.1. Development of the concept of “democracy”              29

1.2.2. The political system: definition and development      32

1.2.3. Fascist ideology and education    32

1.2.3.1. The ideology of the Communism of Lenin and education          34

1.2.3.2. Liberalism and education 36

1.2.4. Conservatism and education         37

1.3. Economy and state politics       38

1.3.1. The functions of the state in a capitalist market economy in the context of economic policy             41

1.4. Educational change and education policy             41

1.4.1. The importance of educational change       43

1.4.2. Reasons for initiating educational change and the associated processes            44

1.4.2.1. Characteristics of change                44

1.4.2.2. The teacher and educational change            45

1.4.2.3. Planning educational change         46

Chapter 2. The evolution of educational thought and the ideology of education in the history of England from the tenth to the end of the seventeenth century 51

2.1. The Church’s monopoly on teaching      53

2.2. Bourgeois education  54

2.3. Education of youth     55

2.4. The beginnings of higher education: the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and London            56

2.5. The monopoly of the Church in teaching and church schools          57

2.6. The historical background of the development of Protestantism in England    60

2.6.1. The doctrine of the Church of England        63

2.7. British political thought and education in the Age of Enlightenment  63

Chapter 3. Pedagogical thought and educational ideologies in the United Kingdom from 1707 to World War II 65

3.1. The pedagogical views of Jean-Jacques Rousseau             65

3.2. British political thought and education in the Age of Enlightenment  66

3.3. The positivistic trend in British education              67

3.4. The schools of mutual instruction of Lancaster and Bell      68

3.5. The Chartist movement and educational changes associated with the creation of the London Working Men’s Association  69

3.6. Pedagogical and educational thought of the European workers’ movement in England                70

3.7. The English utopian socialism of Robert Owen     71

3.8. Herbert Spencer and his pedagogical views          71

3.9. The Elementary Education Act 1870         72

3.10. Directions and stages of development of public education in the United Kingdom: primary and secondary schools            73

3.11. The structure of higher education          75

3.12. Christian education in the nineteenth century     75

3.13. Fisher Education Act                77

3.14. John Dewey and progressive pedagogy             80

3.14.1. The assumptions of pedagogy of John Dewey and his school             81

Chapter 4. Ideological contexts of the educational reforms of 1944 and 1988 in Britain and their consequences over the past twenty years 83

4.1. The Education Act of 1944         83

4.1.1. Primary schools               85

4.1.2. Secondary education      85

4.1.2.1. Public schools   85

4.1.2.2. Grammar school               86

4.1.2.3. Technical schools            87

4.1.2.4. Modern school  88

4.1.2.5. Further education              89

4.2. Open University and the neo-liberal free market principles in universities       90

4.3. The Plowden Report  91

4.4. Genesis of educational reform in England and Wales, 1998               93

4.5. The ideology of the New Right in Britain in the 1980s          93

4.6. The ideology of neoliberalism and corporatism in the UK in the second period of educational change    95

4.7. The Reform Act of 1988 in the light of the ideological contexts          99

4.8. The consequences of the Education Reform Act of 1988     101

4.9. Post-Thatcher education reform in the UK              103

4.10. Teachers’ careers     104

4.11. Local Education Authorities    105

4.12. Headmasters and school governing bodies        106

4.13. The system of compulsory education for children between the ages of 5 to 16 years in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland           107

4.14. Pre-school education              108

4.15. Education of students from 16 to 19 years            109

4.16. Neoliberalism and universities               110

4.17. Summary    112

Chapter 5. The educational policy of the governments of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and David Cameron in the light of sociopolitical changes 115

5.1. The political leadership of the Labour Party in the years 1997‒2007  115

5.2. The cultural revolution during the Tony Blair era   116

5.3. Detraditionalization in conservative terms              117

5.4. The most important achievements of David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education and Employment, 1997‒2001               119

5.4.1. Social solutions and pro-family policy of the Labour Party       119

5.4.2. Organizational solutions favorable to changes in British education       121

5.4.3. Education Management  122

5.4.4. The changing competencies of headmasters             124

5.4.5. Changes in the field of early childhood education    125

5.4.6. Education Action Zones 126

5.4.7. Collecting data about students      126

5.4.8. Adult education and the Learning Age         127

5.4.9. Further education            129

5.4.10. Higher education           130

5.4.11. Summary         132

5.5. Educational policy of Estelle Morris, 2001‒2002    132

5.6. Policy of Charles Clarke, Secretary of State for Education and Skills (October 2002‒December 2004)         135

5.6.1. The National Strategy for Child Care (2004)                135

5.6.2. Faith-based schools in Britain in the twenty-first century         136

5.6.3. Every Child Matters 137

5.7. Educational policy of Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Education and Skills (December 2004‒May 2006)  139

5.8. Educational policy of Alan Johnson as Secretary of State for Education and Skills (May 2006‒June 2007)               139

5.8.1. Summary           140

5.9. Educational policy of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the end of the Labour government       141

5.9.1. Educational policy of Ed Balls (2007‒2010) 142

5.10. The world of the early twenty-first century from the perspective of postmodernism      144

5.10.1. Foreign and domestic policy of David Cameron      147

5.10.2. Education policy of David Cameron           148

5.10.3. Hidden curriculum, social inequalities and cultural reproduction in British education       149

5.10.4. Schools and Colleges  152

5.10.5. The perception of the teacher in education under the government of David Cameron      154

5.10.6. Global “Fourth Way” of educational change             155

5.10.7. Summary         158

Bibliography 161