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WHY IS SELECTION CONTROVERSIAL WITHIN EDUCATION?
Intro
- Traditionally Labour strongly opposed selection – 1960’s began to dismantle the grammar school system.
- Tories always supported selection on academic ability.
- 1997 the issue became controversial again when Major proposed a grammar in every town, whilst Labour argued it would help only a few and created a two tier system. They would allow parents to call a ballot for the closure existing grammars
- Despite the political context, Labour have continued to allow selection in schools since 1997.
SPECIALIST SCHOOLS
- Can select 10% of pupils on the ability of the schools specialism.
- Left Wing Labour see this as ‘selection through the back door’
- Tories argue there is no logic to allowing selection on ability in one area but opposing it in overall academic ability.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS
- There has only been one parental ballot on grammar schools since 1997 which gave support to the school.
- Left Wing Labour argue inequality will still exist while grammars remain.
- To further complicate matters Grammar Schools dominate league tables for academic performance.
CHOICE
- Despite calls for parental choice, increasingly parents are not achieving their first selection for their child’s secondary school.
- In addition parents are lying about or moving to an address in order to get their children into a good school. A consequence of the postcode lottery in education.
FAITH SCHOOLS
- Cantle reported Faith Schools have the potential to be divisive, leading to ‘parallel lives’ as a consequence of lack of mutual understanding and tolerance
- Frank Dobson recommended from the Cantle report that at least 25% of pupils should come from a different religion, however this has not become a legal requirement.
- Parents often lie about their religion.
HIGHER EDUCATION
- A recent report claimed higher education was virtually self selecting in the sense it is overwhelmingly a middle and upper class institution.
- The access regulator which allows those from poorer backgrounds to access university is controversial.
- It discriminates against students from private and top state schools
- Tories argue selection should be a meritocracy rather than dangerous social engineering.
Conclusion
- Selection is controversial as historically Labour have firmly opposed it on the grounds it leads to a two tier system, whereas the conservatives support it believing it to lead to improved performance.
- Since Labour came to power, selection in specialist and faith schools has become controversial as it can be seen as divisive.
- Perhaps the most controversial is the move towards ‘positive discrimination’ for university selection which ends the idea of selection on pure examination performance.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS LABOUR TRIED TO IMPROVE THE NHS SINCE 1997?
Intro
- In 1997 Blair warned the electorate there were just “24 hours to save the NHS”
- Since, health spending has tripled but it can still be argued whether the investment has paid off.
- Labour promised to slash waiting lists, recruit more staff and radically restructure the health service aiming to achieve this through policies such as Foundation Hospitals, League tables, PCTs and PFI.
TARGETS AND LEAGUE TABLES
- Encourage hospitals to improve standards in weak areas such as waiting times.
- Encourage efficiency
- Highlight hospitals that needed management reform
- To manage the targets Labour created two regulatory bodies for healthcare, therefore it can be seen *Labour is clearly monitoring service, making info available to the public to encourage improvements and a degree of competition. This is enhanced by the independent regulatory bodies encouraging quality.
- However, targets have been highly controversial with fears of increased pressure to meet targets compromising quality of treatments. Their use has thus been reduced.
CHOICE
- The pilot study of ‘The Patients Choice’ Initiative allows patients waiting more than 6months to go to another provider. The use of league tables aids patient knowledge.
- However the need for efficient computer technology for this system to function was found lacking in 2005.
- In the 3rd term Labour will increase choice further by allowing patients to chose from up to 6 hospitals.
- It is the Conservatives however who claim to offer the most choice, in keeping with their philosophies with such schemes as the voucher system.
WANLESS REPORT
- Highlighted the importance of government spending on areas to prevent illness to reduce long term costs.
- Numerous advertising campaigns to prevent binge drinking and a huge assault on smoking with support centres as well as a government ban on smoking in public places in 2006.
- Wanless could be deemed successful as it has brought awareness to many issues costing huge sums to treat each year.
FOUNDATION HOSPITALS
- Give some hospitals greater freedom in managing themselves.
- Channel their funds into areas where it is most needed in a more effective way than central government could.
- However creates a two tier system.
- Criticised move towards the private sector, although Tories believe it hasn’t gone far enough.
PFI
- Allows hospitals to be built and maintained by private finance, freeing up public money for elsewhere in short term.
- The scheme has created more hospitals with modern facilities and their use has successfully reduced waiting times and strains on the service.
PCTS
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Conclusion
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WHY HAVE STEALTH TAXES BECOME SUCH AN IMPORTANT ISSUE IN POLITICS?
Intro
- Labour is traditionally seen as a tax and spend party, with high levels of income tax to finance high levels of public spending.
- In the 1997 election campaign they attempted to combat this image through pledging not to raise income tax.
- While this has been the case to this day, Labour have had to look to other means to raise finance. *Namely through indirect taxation, or so called stealth taxes.
- Stealth taxation under Labour remains one of the few areas on the economy that they are seen to be weak in.
Tory Criticism
- William Hague coined the term ‘Stealth Taxes’
- He heavily criticised Labour for their deceptiveness, highlighting that the tax burden had significantly increased.
- They claim the rise in indirect taxation would be equivalent to 16.5p increase on income tax.
- The Conservatives say that if elected they would seek to reduce the tax burden on hard working middle and lower income families by raising the allowance for tax free earnings.
- Crucially if the Tories can make stealth taxes an important issue, public confidence in the government may decrease.
NANNY STATE
- People often feel that the government is taking too much control over their lives.
- The taxes discriminate against certain lifestyle choices such as drinking, smoking and motoring.
EFFECT ON INDUSTRY
- Some British industries are suffering the high levels of taxation, putting them at a disadvantage to EU neighbours.
- Many people will go abroad to buy their cigarettes and alcohol.
- The stealth taxes have acted as a disincentive to production.
- Tories even claim it has led to smuggling of goods.
PUBLIC OPINION
- The 2000 fuel protest was a very high profile demonstration of public discontent.
- The media spotlight on the issue elevated it and made the public aware of it.
- The protest caused so much of an uproar, that for the only time in Labours first term, the Tories were ahead of Labour in opinion polls.
HOUSE PRICES
- Only recently have the thresholds for stamp duty been raised in line with the high value of the housing market.
- This has resulted in government income from stamp duty more than trebling as first time buyers and middle income families are forced to pay high stamp duty on moderately priced homes.
REGRESSIVE
- Lib Dems particularly criticise the taxes are regressive. Raising indirect taxation on alcohol, fuel and VAT affects the poorer classes more than the rich.
- The economic inequality gap has widened under Labour, giving the impression they no longer care about the workers they once championed.
- Raising indirect taxation is unpopular with the public since it is less obvious than raising income tax and has a daily affect for everyone.
Conclusion
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Comments
These notes are aimed at people studying for Edexcel A Level Government and Politics, unit 4A.
Originally submitted by shes_ellectric on TSR Forums.
