Introduction

The course paper is devoted to the problems of British education concerning from

Margaret Thatcher period to modern time.

The main purpose of the course paper is to describe the new developments of British education from 1980 to 2010.

This problem is important because the education is one of the main component of the government system.

The subjects of the study is the developments in British education from 1980 to 2010.

The object of the research is the education in Great Britain.

The topicality of the theme of this course paper is determined by the fact that the education system of Great Britain reflects the condition of social life in general. And the education system of the country has developed for over a hundred

years . It is a complicated system, full of confusing detail, and there are wide variations as between one part of the country and another.

The course paper consists of 4 parts. In chapter 1 attention is given to Margaret Thatcher and her role in education system. Chapter 2 describes the policy of the new government and the other developments in British education system.

Chapter 3 analyses the Blair legacy and the education Acts. Chapter 4 deals with

the new administration, the Children's Plan and three major education acts in this period.

The following tasks are set up:

1. To describe the policy of the new government.

2. To observe the major education Acts in this period (1980-2010).

3. To compare the state of education in 1980 and in modern time.

Сhapter 1

1.1 Neo-liberalism and Selection

Neo-liberalism became the dominant force in British politics with the election in 1979 of the Conservative administration led by Margaret Thatcher. Her government's policies 'accelerated the closing down of unprofitable industries and promoted a profound social and economic restructuring' [9, p.107]

Thatcher's neo-liberal policies affected not only industry and commerce but also public services.

The twin aims of Margaret Thatcher's education policies in the 1980s were to convert the nation's schools system from a public service into a market, and to transfer power from local authorities to central government.

Despite their claims to be radical and modernising, Thatcher's Tories - and the 'New Right' which supported them - couldn't bring themselves to ditch the elitist policies of the past. The most obvious of these was selection for secondary education.

Thus the 1979 Education Act - Thatcher's first - gave back to LEAs the right to select pupils for secondary education at 11. The move backfired, however. The Tories had underestimated the popularity of comprehensive schools, and attempts to reintroduce or extend selection in Berkshire, Wiltshire, Redbridge and Solihull all failed as a result of strong local opposition.

But the Tories weren't going to give up. 'Such defeats served to encourage Conservative Ministers to opt for rather more subtle policy initiatives aimed at establishing a wider variety of secondary schools and providing for greater parental choice'. [5,p.25]

They began work on a series of radical changes characterised by

the absence of any popular demand for them from any section of the education community nationally or locally, nor even from the populist media. One by one all had to be imposed by means of a parliamentary majority against continuing opposition from all other political parties and from much of the educational establishment

1.2 The preparation for the plan

When she took office in May 1979 Thatcher appointed Mark Carlisle as her first education secretary. He was 'moderate and essentially pragmatic' [4,p.48]. This suited Thatcher because at first reform of education was not her priority: she was more concerned with bringing down the rate of inflation and with curbing the power and influence of the trade unions.

But Carlisle was replaced in September 1981 by the very different Keith Joseph, a long-time advocate of free market ideas. In 1974 he had been a co-founder of the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies, a think-tank which wanted schools to be autonomous with a minimum of state interference.

His appointment was a signal that school reform was moving up the government's agenda. Ironically, as secretary of state for education Joseph found himself commanding an apparatus that was now increasingly involved in specifying the everyday practice of schools. ... Joseph, like the ministers who succeeded him, organised in the name of 'effective education' a vast new complex of regulations and regulators that would measure and direct the processes and outcomes of schooling. [9, p.115]

With Joseph leading the education department, Thatcher set about preparing to take control. This meant confronting the 'education establishment' - the teachers and their unions, the training institutions and national and local inspectors and advisors. There would be action on three fronts:

• the curriculum - traditionally seen as the 'secret garden' which government ministers were not supposed to enter;

• the teachers - controlling their training and development and restricting their role in curriculum development; and

• the local education authorities (LEAs) - many of which (especially the Labour-controlled ones) Thatcher saw as her enemy.

1.3 Legislation

1979 Education Act

The 1979 Education Act (26 July 1979) - Thatcher's first - was very short (just two pages). It repealed Labour's 1976 Act and gave back to LEAs the right to select pupils for secondary education at 11.

1980 Education Act

This Act (3 April 1980) began the process of giving more power to parents. Its main provisions were:

• school governing bodies were to include at least two parents ;

• parents were to have the right to choose schools and the right to appeal if they didn't get the schools they had chosen ;

• there were new rules regarding school attendance orders, the creation of new schools and the closing of existing ones, and the number of school places ;

• the Assisted Places Scheme would provide public money to pay for 30,000 children to go to private schools ;

• the obligation on local authorities to provide free milk and meals was removed, except in the case of children from families receiving Supplementary Benefit or Family Income Supplement ;

• local authorities could establish nursery schools.

1981 Education Act

The 1981 Education Act (30 October 1981. It gave parents new rights: LEAs were required to

• identify the needs of children with learning difficulties ;

• have assessment procedures for ascertaining those needs ;

• produce 'statements' specifying how the needs would be met .

1983 Education (Fees and Awards) Act

This Act (13 May 1983) allowed the secretary of state to require higher education institutions to charge higher fees to students 'not having the requisite connection with the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man' and to exclude such students from being eligible for certain discretionary awards.

1984 Education (Grants and Awards) Act

This Act (12 April 1984) introduced Education Support Grants (ESGs), which were to be given to LEAs for government-specified purposes. It was thus another step in taking control of education policy away from the LEAs and giving it to central government - a move which was taken still further in 1987 when Specific Grants for INSET (In-Service Training) were introduced.

1986 Education (Amendment) Act

This short Act (17 February 1986) increased the limit of the Education (Grants and Awards) Act 1984 on expenditure approved for education support grant purposes, and excluded remuneration for lunchtime supervision from the Remuneration of Teachers Act 1965.

1986 Education Act

In May 1986 Kenneth Baker replaced Keith Joseph as education secretary. He was kept busy: there were two education acts in his first year in the job. The first (and much the shorter - 5 pages) was the 1986 Education Act (18 July 1986), which concerned certain further education grants and the pooling of expenditure by local authorities.

1986 Education (No. 2) Act

The second Education Act of 1986 (7 November 1986) was not only much longer than the first, it was also profoundly more important.

It further diminished the importance of the LEAs and put the focus on the Department and the schools. Governors were to be given much greater responsibility for the curriculum, discipline and staffing. The head was to have a pivotal role - s/he was singled out for specific responsibilities including the 'determination and organisation of the secular curriculum' (though the Act said nothing about what what would happen if governors disagreed). The head (and only the head) had the power to exclude pupils.

Equally significantly, the Act introduced the concept of educational law, so that lawyers became involved in education for the first time. It was very detailed but often ambiguous - it gave parents pegs on which to hang their disenchantments.

1988 Local Government Act

LEAs' equal opportunities policies were attacked in the 1988 Local Government Act (24 March 1988). In this act forbade local authorities from 'promoting teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship'.

1988 Education Reform Act

The Education Reform Act (29 July 1988) was the most important education act since 1944. It is sometimes referred to as 'The Baker Act' after secretary of state Kenneth Baker.

The Act was presented as giving power to the schools. In fact, it took power away from the LEAs and the schools and gave them all to the secretary of state - it gave him hundreds of new powers.

The Act's major provisions concerned:

• the curriculum:     - the National Curriculum     - new rules on religious education and collective worship     - the establishment of curriculum and assessment councils;

• admission of pupils to county and voluntary schools;

• local management of schools (LMS);

• grant maintained (GM) schools;

• city technology colleges (CTCs);

• changes in further and higher education; and

• the abolition of ILEA.

1990 Education (Student Loans) Act

Thatcher's last education act was the Education (Student Loans) Act (26 April 1990) which introduced 'top-up' loans for HE students and so began the diminution of student grants.

Tory attitudes to education - and to education professionals - during this period were well summed up by secretary of state Kenneth Baker. Speaking about the bill which was shortly to become the 1986 (No. 2) Education Act, he told the Tory Party Conference in October 1986:

It is crucial for parents to understand where power in the education system lies. Our Education Bill radically changes the composition of school governing bodies. It gives these bodies new powers and responsibilities. We will end the dominance of the local authority and its political appointees. There will be more parent governors elected by all the parents. Control over sex education will be removed from the teachers and local authorities and given to the new-style governing bodies which will have more parents on them and be answerable to an annual parents' meeting.

But Thatcher had become increasingly unpopular and the last straw for many was her determination to introduce a form of poll tax. This led, in March 1990, to the worst riots London had seen for a century. She lost the confidence of her colleagues and in November 1990 she was replaced as Tory leader and prime minister by John Major.

Chapter 2