Conflict And Progress:the Proceeding Of Welf Arization Of British Basic Education

Education falls into the category of welfare, and without a doubt, basic education should be a type of welfare services for citizens. Governments are responsible to provide access to education, especially for children live in poverty, orphans and alike. Meanwhile, charity organizations could set up educational funds or found schools of their own. In present UK, all of the authority-maintained elementary and secondary schools are free of charge, pupils do not have to pay for enrollment or textbooks. Furthermore, each school supplies school meals at a considerable low price; in addition, so as to ensure every child gets sufficient education, the British government carries out particular policy towards the under-privileged, which waives the obligation of parents who are unemployed and live on relief or who earn less than 'National Minimum Wage'to pay for school meals. Although private education remains to charge fee, it does not exist for the public mass. To trace and analyze the welfarization proceeding of basic education in Britain, to discuss its function of promoting education equality, to analyze its features and future trends, will not only provide a whole new perspective for the academic study of British history of education, but also has practical significance for the development of basic education in our country.The dissertation contains five parts as following:The first part is Introduction. It begins with explaining the origin of this topic and the value of this research, and goes on to define core concepts which this research frequently uses, then overviews the status of the references concerning this topic according to different perspectives, analyzes its achievements and shortcomings, at last lays out the framework of this research and methods adopted.The Second part consists of Chapter one and two. The former which deals with how elementary education became compulsory, by noting the change of British government's attitude towards elementary education:firstly no business of the state, then to influence via parliamentary grant, later to control directly by legislation, finally to reimburse fares for impoverished children, indicates children's entitlement to proper education had moved from being ignored to being acknowledged. The latter chooses the comprehensive schools, discusses its development under the circumstance of the right's persistent opposition to non-selective secondary education, and reviews every attempt from1945to1979to equalize opportunities and resources.The third part is Chapter three, which chooses the integration of education for ethnic minority groups. Firstly, it describes the beginning of the integration, reveals British Government at first ignored then took serious consideration of the issue of education for ethnic minority groups which arose during1960s, introduces the effort made by Local Education Authrity to establish multi-cultural curriculum. Secondly, it discusses the pause and the restart of the integration, analyzes the negative effects of choice policy, and particularly reviews New Labour's efforts to eliminate racial inequities in education. It concludes with interpreting the achievements of the integration of education for ethnic minority groups, threats it will encounter and its future trends.The fourth part is Chapter four. It discusses the origin, the thriving, the struggle and the grope of British school meals service system, indicates a close relationship between education equity and social welfare, identifies several helpful relevant experiences to be for reference in our country.The fifth part is Conclusion. This part summarizes the features of welfarization of basic education, describes its achievements and the challenges it will face, elaborates its future. This part also discusses whether an education for the common good can survive in market state or not, points out that in the long term there will eventually be opposition to meritocratic selection and a narrow economic view of the purpose of education. Moreover, this part emphasizes that welfarization is the only means to develop basic education.