Outline the policies that New Labour have introduced to the education system since 1997 [12 marks]
Labour governments since 1997 have sought both to reduce inequality of achievement and promote greater diversity, choice and competition within the education system. They believed that achieving these goals would also make Britain as a whole, more competitive in the global economy by turning the nation into a high skill, high wage society.
The labour party has traditionally had a strong focus on promoting equality. After 1997, Labour governments introduced several policies aimed specifically at reducing inequality in achievement by targeting support on disadvantaged groups. One such policy was known as the ‘Aim Higher’ programme and worked to raise the aspirations of groups who are under-represented in higher education. Also, the Labour party designated some deprived areas as education action ones and provided them with additional resources. A final policy was known as Educational maintenance allowance (EMA); it gave small amounts of money, weekly, to students from low-income backgrounds to encourage them to stay on in school after 16 to gain better qualifications. Critics such as Whitty (2002) see a contradiction between labour’s policies to tackle inequality; EMA is an example of a policy that may encourage working-class students to stay on until they’re 18, however tuition fees for higher education may deter them from going to university. Whitty thus concludes that Labour’s anti-inequality policies are merely ‘cosmetic’ – they present a positive image without actually reducing class inequalities. Other sociologists also argue that Labour were unsuccessful in reducing inequality as grammar and private schools still existed.
Labour governments since 1997 have also aimed to promote greater diversity and choice. For example, as ex-prime minister Tony Blair said in