Title: The New Right and Education - History Learning Site
Headings: The New Right and Education
The New Right and Education
Content: In some areas there is no alternative to the local comprehensive. In other areas where choice exists, middle class parents are in a better position to get their children into the best schools using the so-called ‘postcode lottery’. Can schools make up for the inequalities in the wider society? With good management and high quality teaching, can schools provide equality of opportunity for students from low-income backgrounds? Available evidence suggests that the answer is ‘no’ (Halsey et al. 1997)
The New Right’s impact on education is based on the following: Conservative traditions, mainly from the 1980s and 1990s. The New Right see themselves as being similar to functionalists and they believe in the freedom of the individual with less central control. The New Right believe in free market principles within education with a desire to reduce public spending. The New Right’s policies to reduce social inequality are not given a high priority as they do not believe that such issues are the responsibility of the state.