Variable tuition fees and widening participation: the marketing of English institutions through access agreements

This paper argues that the introduction of access agreements following the establishment of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has led to changes in the way that higher education institutions (HEIs) position themselves in the marketplace in relation to widening participation. However, the nature of these access agreements has led to obfuscation rather than clarification from the perspective of the consumer. This paper analyses OFFA's 2008 monitoring report and a sample of 20 HEIs' original 2006 and revised or updated access agreements (2008) to draw conclusions about the impact of these agreements on the notions of 'fair access' and widening participation. The authors conclude that institutions use access agreements primarily to promote enrolment to their own programmes rather than to promote HE generally. As a consequence of this marketing focus, previous differences between pre-92 and post-92 institutions in relation to widening participation and fair access are perpetuated leading to both confusion for consumers and an inequitable distribution of bursary and other support mechanisms for the poorest applicants to HE.</p

School performance in Australia: is there a role for quasi-markets?

Recent changes to the organisation of Australia's education system have raised the possibility of implementing wide-ranging market reforms. In this article we discuss the scope for introducing reforms similar to the United Kingdom's 'quasi-market' model. We discuss the role of school league tables in providing signals and incentives in a quasi-market. Specifically, we compare a range of unadjusted and model-based league tables of primary school performance in Queensland's public education system. These comparisons indicate that model-based tables which account for socio-economic status and student intake quality vary significantly from the unadjusted tables

Economics of education research: a review and future prospects

In this paper we offer an appraisal of the economics of education research area, charting its history as a field and discussing the ways in which economists have contributed both to education research and to education policy-making. In particular, we highlight the theoretical and methodological contributions that economists have made to the field of education during the last 50 years. Despite the success of the economics of education as a field of inquiry, we argue that some of the contributions made by economists could be limited if the economics of education is seen as quite distinct from the other disciplines working in the field of education. In these areas of common interest, economists need to work side by side with the other major disciplines in the field of education if their contribution to the field is to be maximised, particularly in terms of applying improved methodology. We conclude that the study of education acquisition and its economic and social impact in the economics of education research area is very likely to remain a fertile research ground. Acknowledgement

A ‘home-international’ comparative analysis of widening participation in UK higher education

Since devolution of education policy to the four ‘home’ nations of the UK, distinct approaches to addressing social inequalities in higher education participation have developed across the four jurisdictions (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). From a critical examination of 12 policy documents, this paper presents a comparative policy analysis of the qualitatively distinct ways that inequalities in higher education are conceptualised across the ‘home’ nations. Basil Bernstein’s theoretical ideas are drawn on to help unearth distinctions in their beliefs about the underlying nature of educational inequalities. These can be understood in relation to their degree of closeness to either neoliberal or social democratic ideological positions, and we show that the ‘home’ nations of the UK place differing emphases on what form of higher education they aim to widen access to, and how they intend to achieve thi

Development of inclusive education in England: Impact on children with special educational needs and disabilities

This is an accepted manuscript of a book chapter published by Springer Routledge in the Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education, available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74078-2_151-1 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions for re-use.This chapter considers a historical account of the development of inclusion in England and the changes made to the education of children with SEND since the 1940s. The chapter details the development of inclusive education, the complexity of defining inclusion, and what inclusion has come to mean in current practice. This historical account is considered alongside the development and dominance of the standards agenda. In considering inclusion in this manner, the original intentions of its agenda are questioned against the practical implementation of inclusive education in current practice. The chapter concludes by proposing that significant progress has not been made with inclusion because it has not been possible to accommodate it within the competing political agendas replete in England’s education system

Technological change and employer-provided training

Abstract There is a wide range of theoretical and empirical analyses suggesting that technological change has increased the demand for skills. Since training is a mechanism to upgrade workers&apos; skills, it would be expected that technical progress strengthens the importance of training on account of the requirement for skills to complement new technology. However, the relationship between technical progress and firms&apos; (employer-funded) continuous training has been little investigated. In our research we address the theoretical gap by building upon existing models from the skillbiased technological change and training literatures. This theoretical platform supports a maintained hypothesis of a positive relationship between training and technological change, which we investigate empirically for Germany using data from the IAB establishment panel. Our empirical findings indicate that in Germany a greater share of workers undergo further/continuing training in establishments subject to technological change. An important issue we raise in our empirical analysis is the possibility of endogeneity/simultaneity between training and technological change

The Role of Firing and Exit Costs

We would like to thank participants at the November 2001 IZA workshop on “Apprenticeshi

Choosing in schools: locating the benefits of specialisation

Recent policy in England has suggested that educational outcomes will be raised if schools specialise in particular subjects. In contrast, calls for the reform of 16-19 education have suggested that these outcomes will be improved if students become less specialised in their studies. At present, there is a limited evidence base from which to judge these arguments. In particular, we do not know the extent to which students' achievements in 16-19 education are higher when they choose subjects which play to their perceived strengths. We also do not know whether students are more likely to choose to study subjects taught by more effective departments. That is, outcomes may be affected by the relative strengths of students or departments in circumstances where there is freedom to choose. In this paper we provide evidence of the existence and strength of these relationships. This evidence suggests that reducing the scope within schools for specialisation or competition will reduce average student attainment and these effects ought to be taken into account when evaluating alternative curriculum policies

Technological change and employer-provided training: evidence from UK workplaces

Purpose – This paper sets out to examine the link between technological change and continuing training at a workplace level. Design/methodology/approach – The paper hypothesises that workplaces subject to technological change have an increased demand for skills, which induces an increased provision of training. UK data from two waves (1998 and 2004) of the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) are used to investigate this hypothesis. Findings – Workplaces undertaking technological change are more likely to train their workers and also to provide more days of training per worker. Team working is also associated with a greater number of days spent on training, as are the setting of training targets and the keeping of training records. Training intensity decreases with an increasing share of part-time and manual employees. Conversely, where workplaces face difficulties in filling skilled vacancies, they provide more days of training. Research limitations/implications – The WERS training questions refer only to core experienced employees which, since this group may vary from one workplace to another, may not give a completely consistent measure of either absolute or relative training provision. Because the WERS panel (1998 and 2004) excludes both the dependent variable (training intensity) and the variable of interest (technical change), the analysis is restricted to cross-section estimation. Causal implications of this analysis should be regarded as correspondingly tentative. Practical implications – The findings suggest that one way to induce firms to provide more training is by enhanced incentives for firms to undertake more rapid technological change. In addition, if the current global economic downturn persists, evidence that operating in a declining market is associated with the provision of fewer training days may be of particular concern to training professionals and policy makers. Originality/value – The paper provides empirical evidence concerning the interaction between technological change and training.Change management, Skills, Training, United Kingdom, Workplace

Technological change and employer-provided training: Evidence from German establishments

There is a wide range of theoretical and empirical analyses suggesting that technological change has increased the demand for skills. Since training is a mechanism to upgrade workers’ skills, it would be expected that technical progress strengthens the importance of training on account of the requirement for skills to complement new technology. However, the relationship between technical progress and firms’ (employer-funded) continuous training has been little investigated. In our research we address the theoretical gap by building upon existing models from the skillbiased technological change and training literatures. This theoretical platform supports a maintained hypothesis of a positive relationship between training and technological change, which we investigate empirically for Germany using data from the IAB establishment panel. Our empirical findings indicate that in Germany a greater share of workers undergo further/continuing training in establishments subject to technological change. An important issue we raise in our empirical analysis is the possibility of endogeneity/simultaneity between training and technological change.further training, technological change, skills