A-Level Sociology: education policy and globalisation

Educational policy is one of the four content areas of the Education topic in A-level Sociology (for example, AQA A-level Sociology 7192, Paper 1), and essay questions regularly ask how far policies have reduced or reproduced inequality. This material takes you through the main policy changes in England and the sociological arguments about each.

The quiz begins with selection: the tripartite system and the eleven-plus that followed the 1944 Education Act, and why its outcomes supported the view that it reproduced class inequality. It then moves to comprehensives and the Marxist argument that streaming inside them legitimates inequality through a myth of meritocracy. From 1988 onwards the focus is marketisation: which measures the Education Reform Act introduced, how Gewirtz's types of parent use choice differently, how Bartlett's cream-skimming and silt-shifting widen gaps between schools, and why Ball calls parentocracy a myth.

Later questions look at governments since 1997: Benn's New Labour paradox, the pupil premium as compensatory education, the criticism that free schools increase social selection, and Ball's idea of fragmented centralisation in an academy-dominated system. The bank ends with privatisation (Ball and Youdell's endogenous and exogenous privatisation, Molnar's cola-isation of schools) and with the way international comparisons such as PISA and global education companies shape national policy.

Each quiz question is set in an invented town, school or government, so you practise recognising a policy or concept from a description and linking it to a named sociologist. Every answer comes with an explanation that places the policy in its period and adds a point of evaluation.

The material offers four formats. The 12-question quiz explains each answer. The 17-card flashcard deck covers the policies and key terms, from Circular 10/65 to PISA. The printable written work sets eight open questions, from outlining two policies to assessing whether marketisation has raised standards for all, with ruled space for handwritten answers that are then checked. The oral exam puts you in front of an examiner who asks one question at a time, follows up on your reasoning and gives brief feedback at the end.

Use it to build a clear timeline of policy and a bank of evaluation points before writing essays on selection, marketisation, privatisation or equality of opportunity.

• Describe the tripartite system and comprehensivisation and explain functionalist and Marxist views of them
• Identify the main measures of the 1988 Education Reform Act and explain marketisation
• Use Gewirtz, Bartlett and Ball to explain how marketisation can reproduce class inequality
• Evaluate New Labour and Coalition policies, including academies, free schools and the pupil premium
• Distinguish endogenous from exogenous privatisation and explain the cola-isation of schools
• Explain how globalisation, international league tables and global edu-businesses influence education policy

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the Education topic of A-level Sociology specifications (for example AQA A-level Sociology 7192, specification version 1.2, section 4.1.1: educational policies including selection, marketisation and privatisation, policies for equality of opportunity, and the impact of globalisation on educational policy). Academy figure: DfE, Schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2025.