Competition and the performance of english secondary schools: further evidence

Levačić, Rosalind

doi:10.1080/0964529042000239186

Cited by 56 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Similar effects of competition on the student output are shown in the work by Bradley/Taylor (2002) and Levacic (2004) in England. Also the studies of Sandström and Bergström (2005) and Björklund, Edin, Fredriksson and Krüger (2004) emphasize the significant positive effect that competition has on the quality of educational choices in Sweden.…”

Section: Results Of Empirical Studiessupporting

confidence: 58%

International Empirical Findings about the Success of Education and School Policy

Nguyen¹,

Pfleiderer²

2013

IES

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The PISA studies in recent years have disclosed fundamental problems in the educational and training systems of many countries. According to the studies, it seems that simply increasing the education expenditures per pupil regularly does not sufficiently achieve better pupil performances. This "input-oriented" policy does not have any direct effect on the output in the form of better results by the pupils. Therefore, it is the objective of this essay to analyze the framework conditions in which an education system can develop optimally so that the pupils achieve better grades and/or performance at schools. We focus our analysis on the institutional factors such as "competition in the school system," "school autonomy," "responsibility," as well as a suitable combination of these factors. The research results of international empirical studies discussed in this paper provide a range of approaches and proposals that governments could use as a guide or as a "cornerstone" for the design of their schools and education systems.Keywords: PISA, education, human capital, school performance Necessary Rethinking of Education and Training PolicyOver the last few years, politicians in many European countries have been made aware of the problems in their schools and education systems by the PISA studies. According to the investigations, increasing the educational spending per student regularly does not satisfactorily achieve better student performance. Investments do not reach the pupils in the end because they disappear in bureaucratic processes. This is partly due to the opportunistic behavior of school managers and teachers. This "input-oriented" policy does not have any direct effects on the output in the form of better results by the pupils. Therefore, governments and politicians generally need to change their thinking to improve the qualitative approaches of education. This was done in part by the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) in April 2008 for instance. The EQF has an "output-based" view and refers to what pupils actually learned and what kind of knowledge and skills they acquired after completing their training programs. It is the responsibility of the state to create the corresponding framework in which the school and training system can develop optimally so that pupils, and in turn, their schools, perform well. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that the state provides many incentives for those responsible for education to take appropriate measures in order to improve the quality of education and thereby increase the pupil output. Within this context, institutional factors play a central role, which will be further discussed later in this paper.In this essay, different aspects are presented and analyzed in order to make suggestions regarding how to improve education and training policy. Basically, the objective is to maximize the student performances, which are evaluated by international tests such as PISA and TIMSS. For this purpose, we use suitable empirical studies. Our analysis focuses on ins...

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Section: Results Of Empirical Studiessupporting

confidence: 58%

International Empirical Findings about the Success of Education and School Policy

Nguyen¹,

Pfleiderer²

2013

IES

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“…Björklund et al 2004 for similar results). Bradley and Taylor (2004) and Levaĉić (2004) find similar positive effects of school competition on the performance of English schools, and the former show that these efficiency gains are achieved without significant increases in polarization. Filer and Münich (2003) show that the introduction of a voucher-type system in the Czech Republic led to the creation of private schools in areas where public schools are doing badly and that the public schools facing private competition improved their performance in obtaining university admission for their graduates.…”

Section: Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 66%

Efficiency and equity of European education and training policies

Wößmann

2008

Int Tax Public Finance

107

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This paper reviews empirical evidence, especially from Europe, on how education and training policies can be designed to advance both efficiency and equity. Returns to educational investments tend to decrease over the life cycle. Moreover, they seem to be highest for children from disadvantaged families at early stages and for the well-off at late stages of the life cycle. This creates complementarities between efficiency and equity at early stages and trade-offs at late stages. The paper goes on to discuss specific policies for efficiency and equity at each educational stage, ranging from early childhood education and schools over vocational and higher education to training and lifelong learning. The available evidence suggests that both efficiency and equity can be enhanced by output-oriented reforms properly designed to each stage, where the state generally sets a regulatory framework that ensures accountability and funding and uses the forces of choice and competition to deliver best results. Designed this way, education and training systems can advance efficiency and equity at the same time.JEL Code: I28, H52, D6, J24.

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“…Discrepancies between structural and subjective measures of competition were also found in a study of six local education authorities, both urban and rural, in the United Kingdom (Levacic, 2004). The number of schools mentioned by principals as being their competitors was only modestly related to the degree of competition they experienced.…”

mentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Often a broader distinction is made between technical and allocative efficiency. See also Hoxby (2000); Belfield and Levin (2002); Levacic (2004); Bradley et al (2004); Arsen and Ni (2008); Telhaj et al (2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Markets in Education

Waslander

Pater²,

Weide³

2010

OECD Education Working Papers

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JT03290846 OECD DIRECTORATE FOR EDUCATION OECD Education Working Paper SeriesThis series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies drawing on the work of the OECD Directorate for Education. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language (English or French) with a short summary available in the other.Comment on the series is welcome, and should be sent to either edu.contact@oecd.org or the Directorate for Education, 2, rue André Pascal, 75775 Paris CEDEX 16, France.The opinions expressed in these papers are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries. ABSTRACTIn the last three decennia, many governments have introduced market mechanisms in education. They have done so by enhancing parental choice and encouraging school competition, through policies like abolishing catchment areas, creating voucher programmes and setting up charter schools. These market mechanisms have given rise to fierce debates in both political and scientific circles. However, most prior reviews of research literature in this area have concluded that the effects of market mechanisms in education are small, if they are found at all. This review tries to answer the question why that is the case, by analysing the causal pathways that link market mechanisms to educational outcomes and by reviewing the empirical evidence for each step along those causal pathways. The findings of this review point to the need for a nuanced and qualified discussion about market mechanisms in education. What market mechanisms mean in actual practice strongly depends on (local) contexts, while the impact of market mechanisms is related to other policies impacting on parental choice behaviour as well as actions taken by schools. RÉSUMÉAu cours des trois dernières décennies, de nombreux gouvernements dans le monde entier ont introduit des mécanismes de marché au sein de leur système éducatif. Ils ont procédé ainsi en valorisant le choix des parents d'élèves et en encourageant la compétition scolaire à travers des politiques telles que l'abolition des zones scolaires, la création de programmes accessibles à l'aide de chèques scolaires, et mise en place des écoles à charte. Ces mécanismes de marché ont donné naissance à des débats passionnés dans les milieux politiques et scientifiques. Cependant, les toutes premières recherches dans ce secteur ont conclu que les effets des mécanismes de marché dans le secteur éducatif sont mineurs, lorsqu'ils sont déterminés. Cette étude essaie de comprendre pourquoi il en est ainsi en analysant la chaîne causale qui lie les mécanismes de marché aux résultats dans le secteur éducatif, en passant en revue les données empiriques à chaque étape du processus. Les résultats de cette étude soulignent le besoin d'un débat nuancé et modéré sur les mécanismes de marché dans l'éducation. Ce que mécanismes de marché signifie en pratique dépend fo...

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Competition and the performance of english secondary schools: further evidence

Cited by 56 publications

References 7 publications

International Empirical Findings about the Success of Education and School Policy

International Empirical Findings about the Success of Education and School Policy

Efficiency and equity of European education and training policies

Markets in Education

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