Assignment - Mike Day 28/02/12

Today’s lecture was given by Mike Day who is the Cabinet Member for education in Swansea. He was giving us a lecture on the education policy, describing to us how and why it is used. He stated that the education policy is the collection of laws and rules that operate the educational system. The aim of the educational policy is to reflect political options, traditions and values and to make fundamental choices; it also has socio-economic objectives. The education policy is used to create a workforce and to produce ‘rounded’ individuals, it is also important as it provides basic guidelines, however these can sometimes be too strict and sometimes don’t allow you to do what you want. Things that are considered by the education policy are school size, school privatization, class size and teachers pay. I was also told that the people that develop the education policy are the politicians and practitioners; this is developed within the UK levels and the Welsh Government. There are a number of things that the Welsh government cannot control and these include the compulsory school age and teachers pay, however they can control things such as the foundation phase and Welsh Medium.

The education policy is developed within UK level, the Welsh Government and local authorities. The UK Level had an effect great effect on schools one being the compulsory school age being 5-16. It is also responsible for the Local Education authorities and their parents and students. The Welsh Government introduced the idea of no SATs, no academies, and higher education tuition fees, the foundation phase, Welsh medium and the pupil deprivation grant. All of these would have affected learners in some way some for the good and some not. The idea of the compulsory age could be considered negative as children starting school at the age of 5 may not know as much as children who have attended school from the age of three, the same apply for the leaving age being 16, by this age pupils may not be mature enough to make the decision of what to do with themselves after they finish school. However the idea of the pupil deprivation grant would be an advantage for learners as it would assist them with their learning and ensure that they had the necessary funds to buy things needed for school. The idea of no SATs is also a good idea as it ensures that at a young age children aren’t stereotyped as they may not be able to portray their true potential.