School Choice

Speaking on the Week in politics about ABA Brian Hayes said that Parents want choice. Now this was in relation to autism education but are Fine Gael willing to run with this further. The thing about school choice is that I am torn by it. On the one hand I am very much in favour of equality and treating people equally on the other hand I do recognize the good work that private schools do. From the Economist.

Researchers at the Centre for the Economics of Education have used data on earnings, social class and education to distinguish the effects of private schooling from other advantages that students at such schools may enjoy (such as having richer, better-educated parents). Those who left private schools in the 1980s and early 1990s can expect to earn 35% more in life than the average product of a state school, they found, around half of which can be attributed to education, not background. That, they calculated, means parents achieved an average 7% return on their investment in fees.

Now one factor I am sure they have not been able to put into those calculations is the effect of parents pushing there children. I am not talking about in a bad way but just encouraging their children. The fact is that parents who pay three grand a year to send their kids to school are not going to let them slack off to McDonalds. By paying the 3000 they are benefiting from the schools ability to attracted the best teachers but possibly more important the class room is filled with kids who have equal goals. I.e they are all aiming for college. Now there are an awful lot of parents who have kids of alot of ability that are not able to afford the 3000 grand a year. As these schools prove time and time again that they are the most effective at sending kids to uni why are they bared from poorer children?

1 reason I guess is that to suggest that children who cannot afford places in these schools should be given grants or school vouchers to go to these schools is a vote of no confidence in the public education system. Well you know what sod the public education system if it is not doing what it should then sod it. Why are we so afraid of calling a spade a spade in this country? In the public system good teachers are not rewarded.You remember your schooling. You remember the teacher that inspired you, you remember the teacher who was the best, you also remember the teacher that couldn’t teach and yet they are on the same money. Is it fair that the teacher that goes home draws up lesson plans corrects homework diligently and really cares about the students gets the same pay as someone who does not? This issue comes up every so often and the teachers unions always object to this. Citing that this would effect teacher solidarity and cause friction. Now the left in Ireland seems ready to go along with this and do not push it. Yet even though studies do show that performance related pay works the left seems more interested in siding on the teachers side not the childrens side. I never really get this if a person working for An Post was incompetent and not capable of doing their job would they stay on? If they continually lost parcels would they stay on? I would sincerely hope not so why should this not be the same for teachers.

The other argument in favour of school vouchers is that it creates competition and thus forces schools to compeat and improve. a study Diversity, choice and the quasi-market: An empirical analysis
of secondary education policy in England Steve Bradley and Jim Taylor Lancaster University. They found

the introduction of a quasi-market sought to increase competition between schools for pupils and, in so doing, improve their exam performance. Our estimates suggest, however, that only around 20% of the overall improvement in exam performance over the period 1992-2006 can be attributed specifically to the quasi-market reforms. This policy had a far bigger impact, however, in metropolitan areas where competition is likely to be more intense and where parental choice is likely to be greater. We estimate that the quasi-market accounted for over 35% of the overall improvement in exam results in metropolitan areas compared to around 10% of the improvement in non-metropolitan areas. This finding is supported by the further result that the impact of competition was found to be substantially greater in districts which had the most schools and in districts with the lowest concentration of pupils in just a few schools (as measured by the Herfindahl index).

Just encase you are wondering what they say happened the other 80% of grade increases.

The impact of the education reforms taken as a whole has therefore been relatively small, with only about one-third of the total improvement in exam performance being directly attributable to these three education reforms. This seems to be a rather meagre return on a substantial investment in education resources. One possible explanation for the gap between the impact of the policies and the overall change in exam results is simply that the GCSE exams have become easier or that assessment methods have become less stringent. In other words, there may have been grade inflation. There is still no convincing evidence, however, that grade inflation has been substantially responsible for the steady improvement in exam results since the early 1990s. We cannot rule out the possibility that the effects of the education reforms have not been accurately estimated by the methods used in this paper.

A point made against School Vouchers is that they will proportionality effect poor students leaving them stuck in the crap schools. On this matter the report says.

Although the education reforms are estimated to have had only a small impact in exam performance in aggregate, there is convincing evidence that the impacts that did occur have been distributionally beneficial. Our estimates suggest that the increased competition had the greatest impact on exam performance in those schools with the most disadvantaged pupils.

So from this paper it would seem to suggest that a market in schooling is not the silver bullet solution but it does help and may help even more then it lets on. (Depending if you believe in grade inflation or not personally I don’t I think increased grades have come from increased competition between students themselves the “points race if you will”)

School vouchers work quiet well in Sweden. One of the big reasons it works is that the schools cannot select students. They take people on a first come first served basis . The system in Sweden is as it should be a free-market for the parents not for the schools. The market is not free, schools have to take in who applies on a first come first served basic. If schools cannot discriminate based on disabilities and economic background then this should work well. (Disciplinary background is another issue should unruly kids be put with non-unruly kids) Also a good streaming system requires school not to focus on one section. When parents get the chance to choose their school they need the information on the school. League tables do not tell you who is the best school. They tell you who has the best students and best students depend on many factors including intelligence and home situation. If parents really want to get the information they need to make correct decisions then School League tables need to reflect students improvement not results. Any school can give an education that gives a 600 point student 600 points. But only a great school can give a 400 point student 600.

There is a lack of schools in this country. Class room sizes are simply too big. Allowing the private sector to provide some of the extra classes may help. Also if more go into the private sector the current funding could have better focus. But that is not going to solve the problems. The Swedish system only provides 6% of the places. A drop in the ocean but none the less a significant drop and as . It does need to be regulated to prevent top-up fees and student selection but it does have potential to lower class sizes and to put into place the necessary class rooms needed. And so what if some business man makes a load of money isn’t our kids future more important then ideology?

This is a topic that is rarely ever discussed in Irish political life yet is probably the most important. Other then at Leaving Cert results time do we hear anything about the standard of education in Ireland and what we should do. Rarely and if you disagree with me on vouchers at least agree with me that this is a disgrace.