Education — AQA A-Level Sociology
Test yourself on Education with AQA A-Level practice questions.
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Education explained
Educational policies shape the structure, role, and experience of schooling, impacting access.
Read the full explanation
Selection policies, like the tripartite system, stratified access by ability. Marketisation (e.g., the 1988 Education Reform Act) introduced competition, altering education's structure by treating schools as businesses. Privatisation shifts control to private companies. Conversely, policies like Pupil Premium aim for greater equality of opportunity or outcome, though success is debated. Globalisation influences policy, driving international comparisons (PISA rankings) and the global trade in educational services, reshaping the student experience and national priorities.
Your focus
- Explain how policies of selection, marketisation, and privatisation alter the structure and experience of education.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of educational policies designed to achieve greater equality of opportunity or outcome.
- Analyse the impact of globalisation on national educational policies and practices.
Education exam tips
Marking Points
- Identify and explain specific selection policies (e.g., the 11+ examination) and their impact on access to education and social stratification.
- Analyse marketisation policies (e.g., league tables, formula funding) and how they affect the structure and experience of education, often benefiting middle-class families.
- Evaluate the impact of privatisation (both endogenous and exogenous) on the role of education and the increasing influence of private corporations.
- Assess the effectiveness of policies aimed at achieving equality of opportunity (e.g., comprehensive schooling, compensatory education) versus equality of outcome.
- Explain the impact of globalisation on educational policy, such as the influence of international league tables (PISA) and multinational educational technology companies.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Always link specific educational policies back to their impact on different social groups, such as class, gender, or ethnicity, to demonstrate evaluation skills.
- 💡Use concrete examples of legislation, such as the 1988 Education Reform Act or the 2010 Academies Act, to ground your arguments in historical context.
- 💡When discussing globalisation, consider both its positive impacts, such as sharing best practices, and negative impacts, such as imposing Western educational models globally.
Common Mistakes
- Confusing equality of opportunity with equality of outcome; correction: opportunity means everyone has the same starting chance (e.g., free schooling), while outcome means everyone achieves similar results regardless of background.
- Treating marketisation and privatisation as identical concepts; correction: marketisation introduces business principles like competition into state schools, whereas privatisation involves transferring educational assets or services to private companies.
- Ignoring the impact of globalisation on domestic policy; correction: explicitly link global trends, such as international PISA rankings or global educational technology, to specific changes in national educational policies.