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The subject of increased diversity and choice in schooling is an emotive one, provoking spirited political debate. In North America, this has manifest itself in policies on education vouchers and charter schools; in the United Kingdom, in city academies and faith-based schools. The sources below cover a small proportion of the significant literature covering this field.
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| A Guide to School Choice Reforms (PDF) |
| Daisy Meyland-Smith & Natalie Evans, 2009 |
| Policy Exchange |
A new think tank report sets out a blueprint for expanding choice in the UK schools market, drawing on lessons from the introduction of school choice reforms in Sweden and the USA. The authors conclude that successful reform will mean combining elements from both the Swedish and US systems as well as further developing the UK academies programme. It echoes findings elsewhere that increasing the use of independent provision significantly raises standards. |
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| UK |
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| School Funding and Social Justice: A Guide to the Pupil Premium (PDF) |
| Freeman, Sam and Horner, Simon, 2008 |
| Policy Exchange |
| This paper explores the so-called 'pupil premium', a mechanism that places responsibility for choosing a pupil's school in the hands of parents - with extra money available for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. A thorough policy study, it outlines how such a system might be applied to the complex real-world UK education market as well as fully costing such application. |
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| UK |
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| School Choice by the Numbers:The Fiscal Effect of School Choice Programs (Web Page) |
| Aud, Susan L., 2007 |
| Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation |
| This study calculates the fiscal impact of every existing voucher and tax credit scholarship programme, to bring empirical evidence to bear in the debate over the fiscal impact of school choice. The paper examines the growing school choice movement, looking at twelve case studies of school choice programmes around the US. The study concludes that the school choice programmes mentioned in the study demonstrate examples where the government has been able to save money. |
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| USA |
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| School Admissions: Fair Choice for Parents and Pupils (Web Page) |
| Tough, Sarah and Brooks, Richard, 2007 |
| Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) |
| This report considers the issue of parental choice in secondary education in the UK. It notes that the premise of parental choice is currently undermined by a scarcity of desirable school places - a situation which is leading to segregation by social class and thus an underperforming education system. It argues that a system of fair choice would take into account the need to achieve a balanced intake in every school. The report is available for free download via the above link. |
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| UK |
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| Better Schools and More Social Mobility (Web Page) |
| Willetts, David, 2007 |
| Conservative Party |
This speech, first delivered to the CBI Conference on public service reform (May 2007), announced a step-change in the Conservative Party's approach to choice and selection in public education. It argues that self-governing state schools in a market with liberalised supply and intra-school streaming but not inter-school selection, is the efficacious route to an improved public education system.
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| UK |
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| Has Labour Delivered on the Policy Priorities of 'Education, Education, Education'? (PDF) |
| Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), 2007 |
| CEP, London School of Economics |
| This policy analysis brief evaluates the education policy performance of the Labour government during its first ten years in power. It summarises the evidence on school standards, parental choice and staying on to draw implications for the future of the education sector in the UK. |
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| UK |
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| The Academies Programme (PDF) |
| National Audit Office (NAO), 2007 |
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| This report reviews the progress of the UK government's academies programme, an initiative whereby schools are funded with public money but operated independently of the local education authority. The NAO finds that although the full impact of these policies cannot be known for a number of years, most academies have made good progress in improving GCSE results as well as suggesting that they will deliver good value for money in the long run. |
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| UK |
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| School Choice in the UK and Overseas (PDF) |
| Cowen, Nicholas , 2007 |
| Civitas |
| This report examines evidence on the effects of school choice in the UK - and compares this with that from the US, New Zealand and Sweden. It finds that reform in the UK has been sufficiently blunted as to be "more of the same", and thus schools lack the independence to replicate improvements achieved elsewhere. |
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| UK |
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| Competitive Models to Restructure California's Lowest-Performing Schools (PDF) |
| Snell, Lisa, 2006 |
| Reason Foundation |
| This report examines low-performing schools in California, outlining several reforms designed to enable students to leave failing schools, thus forcing those schools to improve or close. It claims that school funding should follow each child to the school of their parents' choice, forcing schools to compete for students and money. Opponents will argue however that competition only thrives where there is high, symmetric information, - something rarely evidenced in the sector. |
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| USA |
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| The ABC's of School Choice (Web Page) |
| Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation-Education Choice, 2006 |
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| This report presents the argument in support of the use of school choice. It strongly asserts that it works successfully. To display this, the report details case studies of American states in which school choice programmes are used. |
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| USA |
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| Road Map to Reform: Education (PDF) |
| Stansfield, James (Ed.), 2006 |
| Adam Smith Institute (ASI) |
| This brief collection of papers makes three proposals to promote the right to choose within UK schooling. The first is that parents be entitled to remove their children from failing schools and place them in any other school (state or independent) instead. The second proposal is a Sweden-style universal user-choice system. And the third proposal is for a non-refundable tax credit to provide parents with a £-for-£ reduction in their income-tax liability (up to an agreed limit) for each child they have in non-state education. |
| ISBN 1-902737-52-0 |
| UK |
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| School Admissions in the United States: Policy, Research and Practice (PDF) |
| Hillman, Josh, 2006 |
| Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) |
| This paper collates and analyses evidence from research and practice in the US education sector with a view to informing the UK's school admissions debate. The author outlines US admissions policy and identifies three key policy drivers at play: the desire to create neighbourhood schools, intake balancing, and parental school choice and differentiation. The paper can be downloaded for free via the above link. |
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| UK |
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| The Educational Impact of Parental Choice and School Competition (PDF) |
| Gibbons, Stephen; Machin, Stephen; Silva, Olmo, 2006 |
| Centre for the Economics for Education (CEE) |
| This brief article summarises a series of research papers from the CEE. The authors have undertaken to measure the impact of expanding choice and competition on educational standards. They find that there is little causal link between greater choice and greater educational attainment, suggesting that either families are either not exercising choice or that the choices offer negligible academic benefits. Additionally they do find increased inequalities arising from increased competition. However, defenders of choice will counter that the markets in question are neither sufficiently mature nor sufficiently open to be considered a viable test case for choice in education. |
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| UK |
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| Competition, Choice and Pupil Achievement (PDF) |
| Gibbons, Stephen; Machin, Stephen; Silva, Olmo, 2006 |
| Centre for the Economics of Education (CEE) |
| This CEE study analyses the empirical foundation for claims that educational standards rise with increased choice and competition amongst primary schools on the south east of England. The authors make a number of key conclusion, including that on balance choice and competition have limited impact on educational standards. |
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| UK |
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| The Potential Benefits of Real Education Reform in England (PDF) |
| Reform, 2005 |
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| This paper makes a forthright and persuasive case for the wide-ranging benefits of increased choice in school provision in the UK. It argues that two components are essential to successful reform: real choice for parents, and the removal of central control, targets and intervention. Drawing on polling data and comparisons with the feted Swedish system, the authors outline the expected benefits if English education were to follow the same path. |
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| UK |
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| Making Choice a Reality in Secondary Education (Web Page) |
| Wood, Claudia, 2005 |
| Social Market Foundation (SMF) |
| This publication examines the potential for implementing greater choice in the market for secondary education. It asks what can be achieved in terms of raising standards, but also considers what the impact might be on equity. It uses the design principles developed in SMF's 'Choice: The Evidence' (also available on the Resource Centre), to suggest a policy bundle aimed at improving both school standards, and equity of access to good education. The full report can be downloaded via this web page link. |
| ISBN: 1904899331 |
| UK |
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| Higher Standards Better Schools For All (PDF) |
| Department for Education and Skills, 2005 |
| The Stationery Office |
| This White Paper sets out the Labour Government's plans to "place parents and the needs of their children at the heart of the school system". By enabling schools to become self-governing trusts, it aspires to a system of independent, non-fee paying state schools driven to improve by the ease with which customers can go elsewhere, and new providers can enter the market. |
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| UK |
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| School Choice For All (PDF) |
| Reform, 2003 |
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| This paper makes the case for increased choice in UK education, drawing unfavourable comparisons with other nations in Europe and the Americas where choice is the norm - and thus equality of access to good schools is far greater. |
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| UK |
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| Delivering Better Education (PDF) |
| Tooley, James, Dixon, Pauline and Stansfield, James, 2003 |
| Adam Smith Institute |
| This report formed part of the Adam Smith Institute's 'Better Education Project'. It shows the practical benefits that education choice has brought in other countries, demonstrating how the same choice and competition that are already improving school standards in disadvantaged communities are applicable to the UK. Nations studied include the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong, the United States and Canada.
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| UK |
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| Hands Up For School Choice! (PDF) |
| Hockley, Tony, and Nieto, Daniel, 2004 |
| Policy Exchange & Localis |
| This report from the Policy Exchange reviews evidence from around the world on choice-provision in the education market, seeking to devise ways in which school voucher schemes might be expanded in the UK. The study includes both the short-lived nursery vouchers in the UK in 1996/7 and much larger school choice in Sweden, the Netherlands and several American states. |
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| UK |
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| Choice: The Evidence (PDF) |
| Williams, Jonathan and Rossiter, Ann (Eds), 2004 |
| Social Market Foundation (SMF) |
| This report provides an evidence-based analysis of choice policies in health and education. It presents research findings from a range of studies on the impact of choice, and draws conclusions about their further introduction in the UK. In particular it examines how well user-choice has been implemented, how well it has worked and the benefits and disadvantages it has delivered in the UK, Sweden, the US, Chile and New Zealand. It also identifies the conditions under which user-choice policies have flourished. The full report can be downloaded via this web page link. |
| ISBN 1-904899-17-x |
| UK |
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| Connexions - A Mismanaged Market |
| McIntosh, Neil, 2005 |
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| A report into the introduction of PVI (Private, Voluntary and Independent) involvement in the business of providing carees guidance. |
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| UK |
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| The Changing Role of Government in Education (PDF) |
| Tooley, J. , 2002 |
| Encyclopaedia of Education |
| This encyclopaedia entry outlines the debate surrounding different models of provision in the education sector and concludes with a discussion of different models of private sector involvement in education provision. |
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| UK |
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| Learning From Europe: The Dutch and Danish School Systems (PDF) |
| Justesen, Mogens Kamp, 2002 |
| Adam Smith Institute |
| This report formed part of the Adam Smith Institute's 'Better Education Project'. It covers primary and secondary education in the Netherlands and Denmark, demonstrating how these two nations' systems have established independent provision in harmony with parental choice and government funding. |
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| UK |
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| The Report Card on Competition in Schools (PDF) |
| Bradley, Stephen and Taylor, Jim, 2002 |
| Adam Smith Institute (ASI) |
| Based on a study of 300 state schools by two University of Lancaster economists, this report analyses the results of the competition between schools that followed the introduction of league tables and other reforms in 1988. It finds that (i) parents have sought quality, moving their children to local schools that are higher up the league tables of exam performance; (ii) larger schools perform better because they can be more flexible in how they use staff time; and (iii) the gap between rich and poor schools is widening, but not by much. |
| ISBN 1-902737-32-6 |
| UK |
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| Selection isn't Working: Diversity, Standards and Inequality in Secondary Education (PDF) |
| Edwards, Tony and Tomlinson, Sally, 2002 |
| Catalyst |
| This working paper argues that diversity and choice in education will do nothing to raise standards, instead exacerbating social segregation and inequalities of educational opportunity. In response the authors sketch an alternative approach to secondary education with policy alternatives aimed at establishing a "principled and consistent" secondary education policy. |
| ISBN: 0 904508 00 6 |
| UK |
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| The Education Cheque (PDF) |
| Sexton, Stuart, 2002 |
| Adam Smith Institute (ASI) |
| This paper asks how parents can be empowered to seek out the most appropriate school for their children, and how schools should be incentivised to meet their demand, when many people cannot afford to become active 'customers' in the education market. The author proposes that parents be given a cheque to cover the cost of their child's education, forcing schools to strive to satisfy parents as customers. |
| ISBN 1-902737-34-2 |
| UK |
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| Access to Achievement (PDF) |
| Lambert, Chris, 2002 |
| Adam Smith Institute (ASI) |
| This report argues for a new education system in the UK. It outlines a vision for a system which supports parents' freedom to identify the appropriate school for their children's abilities and needs so that non-state education becomes accessible to all. |
| ISBN 1-902737-30-X |
| UK |
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| Customers not Bureaucrats (PDF) |
| Pollard, Stephen, 2002 |
| Adam Smith Institute (ASI) |
| This discussion paper argues that in value for money terms, when all bureaucratic costs are taken into account, state education is more expensive than private education because too much of the budget is wasted on inappropriate spending by distant officials. The author therefore argues for devolution of the budget to front line managers to raise the standard of education through consumer-power. |
| ISBN 1-902737-39-3 |
| UK |
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| A Class Act (PDF) |
| Pollard, Stephen, 2001 |
| Adam Smith Institute (ASI) |
| This discussion paper argues that all UK state schools could become independent, citing examples where the "public funding, private provision" model has been successsfully rolled out. These include charter schools in the USA and New Zealand. It concludes that equality and educational standards would both rise if the government stopped running schools and paid others to do it instead. |
| 1-902737-22-9 |
| UK |
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| The New Shape of Public Services Volume I: Health and Education (PDF) |
| Butler, Eamonn and Pirie, Madsen, 2001 |
| Adam Smith Institute (ASI) |
| This report outlines a new vision for the NHS and state education, aiming to make both markets more innovative and consumer-focused. "Free-standing, self-owned and independent" providers would manage their own budgets and set their own policy and priorities. Driven by the demands of their customers, public services would utilise this autonomy to improve quality and efficiency. |
| ISBN 1-902737-23-7 |
| UK |
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| Schooling Reforms in England: From Quasi-Markets to Competition (PDF) |
| Adnett, N. and Davies, P. , 2001 |
| Staffordshire University Business School |
| This paper presents an economic analysis of school reforms in England which have attempted to promote competition or co-operation between schools. The authors argue that competition and co-operation each has benefits and costs but the mutual-exclusivity of these two approaches requires a mechanism for identifying where each is desirable. |
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| UK |
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| Public Services and the Private Sector: A response to the IPPR (PDF) |
| Pollock, Allyson; Shaoul, Jean; Rowland, David; Player, Stewart, 2001 |
| Catalyst |
| The Commission on Public Private Partnerships, conducted over two years by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), was set up "to introduce greater clarity to partnership arrangements" between the public and private sectors and "to produce a set of authoritative guidelines which will inform the use of partnership in the future". This response argues that the Commission failed to ask more fundamental questions about the role of markets and for-profit operators in the delivery of health care, education, long-term care and other public services. |
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| UK |
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| A Learning Process: Public Private Partnerships in Education |
| Lissauer, Rachel & Robinson, Peter , 2001 |
| Commission on Public Private Partnerships, Institute for Public Policy Research, London |
| This analysis of the evolution of PPPs and contracting in education includes a case study of the PFI in Brent |
| ISBN 1 86030 130 4 |
| UK |
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| Charter Schools: Another Reform Failure or a Worthwhile Investment? (PDF) |
| Good, T.L. and Braden, J.S. , 2000 |
| Phi-Delta-Kappan, vol.81, no.10, pp.745-750. |
| This policy briefing argues that the fate of charter schools will ultimately depend on legislators' effectiveness in providing sufficient room for innovation while securing equity of access to safe and productive educational environments. |
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| USA |
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| Desert Bloom: Arizona's Free Market in Education (PDF) |
| Gresham, A, 2000 |
| Phi-Delta-Kappan, vol.81, no.10, pp.751-757 |
| This policy briefing analyses Arizona's five-year experiment of a free market in education. The authors find both sources of optimism - with political support, huge entrepreneurial talents among teachers and parents are released - and concern - there seems little way to maintain social equity under the Arizonan model. |
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| USA |
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| Marketization and Privatization in Mass-Education Systems (Word) |
| Power, S. and Whitty, G. , 2000 |
| International Journal of Education Development, vol.20, no.2, pp.93-107. |
| This discursive speech analyses different conceptions of private involvement in education provision, arguing that it is important that short and long-term costs are accounted for in assessing the desirability of mixed provision in the education sector. |
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| UK |
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| Satellite Schools: The Private Provision of School Infrastructure (Web Page) |
| Janet R. Beales, 1993 |
| Reason Public Policy Institute (RPPI), Number 153 |
| This paper describes worksite schools built by private-sector businesses and operated as public schools. It includes how-to information for school districts and businesses, and also identifies regulatory impediments in California. |
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| USA |
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