Choice and competition in education: Do they advance performance, voice and equality?

Based on a multilevel analysis of the OECD PISA 2012 data on school test results for 60 countries, we have established that three presuppositions underlying the policy recommendation to introduce more choice and competition in education are untenable. First, rather than choice and competition, we fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPublic administration (London) Vol. 95; no. 2; pp. 482 - 497
Main Authors Mascini, Peter, Braster, Sjaak
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2017
Subjects
Competition
Education
Equality
Evaluation
International economic organizations
Multilevel analysis
Parents & parenting
School districts
Schools
Socioeconomic status
Students
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Summary:Based on a multilevel analysis of the OECD PISA 2012 data on school test results for 60 countries, we have established that three presuppositions underlying the policy recommendation to introduce more choice and competition in education are untenable. First, rather than choice and competition, we find that parental voice and targets and performance measurement incentivize schools to improve students’ test results. Second, we do not find that choice and competition increase parental voice's impact on students’ test results. Third, we do not find that choice and competition have more equal outcomes in terms of students’ test results than has parental voice. Students from high‐SES families not only benefit most from parental voice, but they also benefit most from choice and competition. Overall, we do not find support for the policy recommendation to shift the balance in education in the direction of the choice‐and‐competition model.
ISSN:0033-3298
1467-9299
DOI:10.1111/padm.12308