What is suitable education?

How has ‘suitable education’ been variously interpreted?

The law in relation to provision of ‘suitable education’

As previously noted, in relation to English law, section 7 of the Education Act 1996 states that it is the:  "Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age" and "The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable— (a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and (b)to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise" (Education Act 1996, section 7).

It is noted that whilst the term "efficient" is not particularly clear it is clarified by case law as achieving what it set out to achieve.  However, the term 'suitable' education is a debated and controversial term, especially since the term suitable has been used to clarify the meaning of efficient.  Which, is somewhat of concern since as Gert Biesta says, just because something is efficient doesn’t mean it is suitable – torture for instance as an example.  On deeper exploration it would appear that the term 'suitable' has no clear or agreed upon meaning and is very likely dependent on one's pedagogical viewpoint as well as one's perception of children and child development.

It is interesting to note that the responsibility for securing a child's education actually resides with parents (see Education Act 1996, section 7) but that local authorities have a statutory duty to provide sufficient and appropriate schools for primary and secondary education (Education Act, 1996, chapter 56, part 1, chapter 3, section 14).  It is also interesting here that the terms have been changed - parents have to secure an ‘efficient’ and 'suitable' education but local authorities have to provide a 'sufficient' and 'appropriate' education.  Why are the terms different?  Is there any difference between suitable, sufficient and appropriate?  Appropriate is clarified in the act as "education which offers such variety of instruction and training as may be desirable in view of a) the pupils' different ages, abilities and aptitudes, and b) the differeent periods for which they may be expected to remain at school, including practical instruction and training appropriate to their different needs."  (Education Act, 1996, chapter 56, part 1, chapter 3, section 14).  It would seem, then that the terms suitable and appropriate are assumed to be almost identical in meaning.

Potential controversies with regard to the law

Given that parents are responsible for securing a suitable education for their children either at school or otherwise (Education Act 1996, section 7) and that local authorities have a duty to provide suitable education (cf, Education Act 1996, chapter 56, part 1, chapter 3, section 14) then it would be reasonable to infer that if parents choose to take advantage of education provided by the local authority that there needs to be some agreement between parents and local authorities about what suitable education looks like.  It is also reasonable to infer that this is an agreement between individual parents and local authorities since the term 'suitable' refers to individual children and not children as an homogenous group (cf. Education Act 1996, section 7; Education Act 1996, chapter 56, part 1, chapter 3, section 14).  This begs the question of how this agreement takes place and what happens if parents and local authorities are unable to agree.  

Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 states that parents can secure education for their children otherwise than at school and so one might be forgiven for assuming that if parents and local authorities are unable to agree on what constitutes 'suitable' education for a particular child that the parent has the overall decision to decide not to enter into an agreement with the local authority and seek out or provide an alternative.  However, for some parents, this is not an option since they may not have access to an alternative for a variety of reasons eg. funds or availability. Further, it appears that local authorities are under an obligation to identify those children they consider not to be receiving a 'suitable' education (Education and Inspections Act 2006, part 1, section 4) and can force parents to send their children to a school (cf Education and Inspections Act 1996, chapter 56, part 6, chapter 2, section 437) resulting in a parent sending their children to an education for their child which they may well define as not 'suitable'.

This is contradictory and is likely to cause conflict.  If parents have the overall responsibility for securing suitable education then it would be reasonable to conclude that the definitions of  'efficient' and 'suitable' should be within the remit of the parent.  However, the apparent position of local authorities to also define 'suitable' for the purposes of provision of education and the power to force parents to secure a particular educational provision for their children if they disagree with the parent about what constitutes 'suitable' suggests that parents' responsibility for education can be undermined by the local authority unless the term 'suitable' is clarified.

So, what actually happens when parents and local authorities disagree about what constitutes 'suitable'?  Case law has been used to provide an answer in that suitable education is that which prepares a child for life in modern civilized society, enables them to achieve their full potential and equips them for life within the community without precluding different life choices in the future (Taylor & Petrie, 2000; Gabb, 2005).  The problem is that one’s perception of child development, community and citizenship, and also one’s pedagogical viewpoint will affect how one interprets ‘full potential’ which is in itself not a clear term since it a) is a term that relates to the future which is assumed can be determined at a given point in the present and b) has been variously interpreted in a number of disciplines as meaning different things.

This is an important question and one I hope my own research will have some answer to.

Suitable education as a contested concept

As previously noted, ‘suitable education’ is not a clearly defined concept.  It is interpretive and thus, it can be argued, depends on one’s perspective of a number of things including what constitutes healthy child development and the purpose of education.  It is suggested here that the concept of ‘suitable education’ is what Gallie (1956) refers to as an essentially contested concept.  An essentially contested concept is one which has no agreed upon meaning and may be applied using different criteria by different groups, each of which can be perceived, from their vantage point as correct in their own usage of it.  Gallie (1956) who introduced the notion of essentially contestable concepts condenses the problem as follows:

“When we examine the different uses of these terms and the characteristic arguments in which they figure we soon see that there is no one clearly definable general use of any of them which can be set up as the correct or standard use. Different uses of the term… subserve different though of course not altogether unrelated functions for different schools or movements of artists and critics, for different political groups and parties, for different religious communities and sects. Now once this variety of functions is disclosed it might well be expected that the disputes in which the above mentioned concepts figure would at once come to an end. But in fact this does not happen. Each party continues to maintain that the special functions which the term… fulfils on its behalf or on its interpretation, is the correct or proper or primary, or the only important, function which the term in question can plainly be said to fulfil. Moreover, each party continues to defend its case with what it claims to be convincing arguments, evidence and other forms of justification.”

                                                                        (Gallie, 1956, p168)

Using Gallie’s (1956) definition, ‘suitable education’ fits the criteria to be considered as an essentially contested concept.  For example, it can be demonstrated to be appraisive in that in relates to the provision of something valued which is to be achieved.  Further, its worth is determined by its constituent parts, its achievement is variously describable and is internally complex in character.  We will know, for example, that a ‘suitable education’ has been achieved when a child achieves their full potential, is prepared and equipped for life in modern society and their community and potential future life choices have not been precluded.   But, the concept remains persistently vague.  How will we know that the child has reached their full potential?  When do they reach it?  What are the potential future life choices in an ever changing globalized social world and in a future we do not yet know.  Which community is being referred to?  The answers to these questions will differ depending on one’s perspective of each of the concepts in question.  Nevertheless, differing definitions of ‘suitable education’ are defended both aggressively and defensively by different schools of thought, philosophies of education and pedagogical perspectives who can all demonstrate that their various approaches are derived from an original exemplar which is constantly being refined and developed through the medium of social research.

What my research hopes to do is be part of a wider discussion about the concept of 'suitable education', one which takes account of a range of ideologies and perspectives.

Definitions of 'suitable education' as ideologically driven

Considering ‘suitable education’ as an essentially contested concept means that it must be ideologically driven.  Gallie (1956) argues that the nature of an essentially contested concept means that there is continuous competition for support and acceptance for any particular ideology to be considered as having the essential features or criteria in order to become or remain the dominant ideology.  Whilst the concept of ideology is something that needs further exploration, for the present time a simple definition will be used.  It will consider ideology to be a world outlook based on representations of oneself to the conditions of existence and is something that is experienced in the structure, perception and experience of one’s lived reality. 

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