Topic Four (1.4): Social Democratic and New Right Views on Education

Introduction Icon.png Introduction

In this topic, we examine two of the more common views of education that are taken up by political parties. The social democratic left focusses on the need for education to promote equal opportunity and ensure everyone has a chance of fulfilling their potential, whereas the New Right focusses on the needs of the economy and how education needs to be privatised to raise standards for all students.

Read & Make Notes Icon.png Read and Make Notes

Read pages 242 to 247 in your textbook and carefully make notes on the topic.

Skills Icon.png Tasks

  • Watch the video below and make detailed notes:

WATCH – The New Right View of Education (You Tube) Links to an external site.

  • Identify the key areas of disagreement between social democratic and New Right views of education.
  • Write a paragraph assessing the similarities of the New Right and functionalist views on education.

Glossary Icon.png Terminology

Make sure you understand all the key terms covered in this topic. You may like to make flashcards of key terms now, to help you with revision later on.