The paper presents evidence on the over-time behavior of the rate of return to investment in education in a large number of countries. The emerging pattern is one of declining returns through time, a fact that is interpreted in the context of alternative theories on the relationship between education and earnings, such as human capital, screening, labor market segmentation and the maintenance of the status quo from generation to generation. The evidence lends support to a human capital view of the world. Finally, the slow rate of decline of the returns to education over time dispells fears that education might have overexpanded, especially in developing countries.
This book provides a careful historical analysis of the co-evolution of educational attainment and the wage structure in the United States through the twentieth century. The authors propose that the twentieth century was not only the American Century but also the Human Capital Century. That is, the American educational system is what made America the richest nation in the world. Its educational system had always been less elite than that of most European nations. By 1900 the U.S. had begun to educate its masses at the secondary level, not just in the primary schools that had remarkable success in the nineteenth century. The book argues that technological change, education, and inequality have been involved in a kind of race. During the first eight decades of the twentieth century, the increase of educated workers was higher than the demand for them. This had the effect of boosting income for most people and lowering inequality. However, the reverse has been true since about 1980. This educational slowdown was accompanied by rising inequality. The authors discuss the complex reasons for this, and what might be done to ameliorate it.
Educational Trends Exposed explains and critically reviews eighteen of the most prevalent trends sweeping schools, colleges and universities over the last decade and beyond. Amid the buzz from news outlets, websites and social media peddling ‘this works’ approaches and ‘quick fix’ solutions, this book provides educators with a practical tool to help answer important questions such as: what does this trend actually involve? Is it worth the investment of time and resources? Does it work – what does research say? Do the claimed benefits to students outweigh any downsides? In this timely book, David Armstrong and Gill Armstrong cast a critical, expert eye over these trends, referencing the latest research and offering a framework for considering educational trends, empowering readers as informed critical consumers. They argue that trends disclose deeper truths about the state and direction of contemporary public education in Australia, England and the US and provide original, thought-provoking analysis. This book demonstrates that a greater understanding of trends can teach some important lessons, including how parents, teachers and educational decisions makers can agitate and collaborate for a modernised and more socially equitable education system. Educational Trends Exposed is essential reading for pre- and in-service teachers, and all educational decision makers who are faced with a choice of which trend, if any, to follow.
Did you ever wonder if education has a role to play in stemming the obesity epidemic sweeping across all OECD countries? Or what the impact of increasing urbanisation might be on our schools, families, and communities? Or whether new technologies really are fundamentally changing the way our ...
This book considers a wide range of key developments and key areas of debate in China’s education system. Marketization, quality assurance, and issues of inequality and gender are all discussed, as are expansion in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors, the impact of globalization, and the influence of education on China’s economic growth. The book, which comprises contributions from many leading authorities, will be of great interest both to comparative education specialists, and also to all those interested in China’s rise and development.
Did you ever wonder what the impact of climate change will be on our educational institutions in the next decade? What does it mean for schools that our societies are becoming more individualistic and diverse? Trends Shaping Education is a triennial report examining major economic, political, social and technological trends affecting education.
This book offers in-depth analyses of how education interacts with social inequality in Southern contexts. Drawing on a range of disciplinary frameworks, it presents new analyses of existing knowledge and new empirical data which define the challenges and possibilities of successful educational reform. It is a tribute to the work of the late Christopher Colclough, who, as a leading figure in education and international development, played a key role in the global fight for education for all children. The book critically engages with international evidence of educational access, retention and outcomes, offering new understandings of how social inequalities currently facilitate, mediate or restrict educational opportunities. It exposes the continuing influence of wealth and regional inequalities and caste and gendered social structures. Researchers in Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Pakistan and Uganda highlight how the aspirations of families living in poverty remain unfilled by poor-quality education and low economic opportunities and how schools and teachers currently address issues of gender, disability and diversity. The book highlights a range of new priorities for research and identifies some necessary strategies for education reform, policy approaches and school practice, if educational equality for all children is to be achieved. The book will be of great interest to researchers, scholars, educational practitioners and policy-makers in the fields of economics, politics and sociology of education, international education, poverty research and international development. The Foreword, Chapters 1, 6, 7, and 12 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429293467 under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license (Foreword, Chapters 1, 6, and 12) and a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (Chapter 7).
. . . is a voluminous and timely collection of 18 essays that addresses a number of core issues on the economics of education. . . An exhaustive survey of the literature on the role of universities as multi-product firms at various levels and disciplines identifies the nature of the economies of scope and scale. This enriches the volume further. Economic Analysis & Policy . . . the endeavour of bringing together very knowledgeable contributors, including some of the leading contributors to the literature in the UK and beyond, to write a handbook on the economics of education is highly appreciated. The Handbook contains 18 substantive chapters, encapsulated by a brief introduction and an extensive and a very useful index. . . the Handbook should be praised as a useful overview of the field of economics of education as it stands today. Ludger Wößmann, Economic Issues This major Handbook comprehensively surveys the rapidly growing field of the economics of education. It is unique in that it comprises original contributions on an exceptional range of topics from a review of human capital, signalling and screening models, to consideration of issues such as educational externalities and economic growth, funding models, determinants of educational success, the educational production function, educational standards and efficiency measurement. Labour market issues such as the market for teachers and the transition of students from school to work are also explored. The International Handbook on the Economics of Education will be warmly welcomed by academic economists, educational researchers and practitioners in educational management as well as policymakers. Comprising specially commissioned articles, the Handbook will become indispensable reference for this ever topical field of study.
After decades of effortless growth and prosperity, America's postsecondary institutions of education have come under increasing financial stress and waning public support. In part, this stress reflects a slowdown in the real rate of national economic growth and the loss of federal and state revenues for education generally. It also reflects a trend of state legislatures simply giving higher education an ever lower ranking on the list of funding priorities. Postsecondary educational institutions in the United States will continue to face increasing financial stress and waning public support as critics question the contribution of higher education to economic growth, which historically has been a major rationale for funding. Unless the trends in education financing can be changed, higher edu cation can be expected to stagnate. What, if anything, can be done? As a starting point, advocates of higher education need to more fully recognize the important ways in which higher education influences technological change and also is influenced by that change. As demonstrated by the chapters in this book, higher education is not a neutral or passive player in economic growth. This volume addresses topics related to the role of postsecondary education in national economic development within the United States.
