THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BRITISH EDUCATION
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1968.tb00008.x |
| Date | 01 June 1968 |
| Published date | 01 June 1968 |
| Author | C. K. Rowley |
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BRITISH EDUCATION
C.
K.
ROWLEY*
Zntroduction
STATEI
policy towards formal education is clearly defined in Britain.
For the most part, primary and secondary education is provided by
the state, through a network of nationalised schools, and is
a
com-
pulsory requirement for all children between the ages of five and
fifteen years, save those who are in receipt
of
approved ‘private’
education. State education
is
provided at zero prices for
all
children
within the prescribed age range, and is financed by general taxation
and by local rate levies. Formal education for children beyond the
age of fifteen years is not compulsory, but is provided at zero prices
through nationalised schools for selected children. Higher education
is not compulsory, but is provided largely through nationalised bodies,
although fees are usually charged. Such fees rarely represent the
market price for the services provided, and in many cases those under-
taking higher education are further subsidised through a grant system
which in this instance is frequently subjected to a means test based
upon parental income. Higher education is provided by the state upon
a highly selective basis.
In
essence, this has been the recent tradition
in 3ritish formal education, and is the system which encompasses
the
vast
majority both of British children and of those adults who
undertake formal higher education.
Although the past decade has been one of almost unprecedented
educational controversy in Britain-witness the Robbins Report
on
Higher Education, the Crowther and Newsom Reports
on
Secondary
Education and the Plowden Report
on
Primary Education-the debate
has scarcely impinged upon the economic issues underlying the system
of British education outlined above. It is true that the debate has
centred upon such fundamental educational issues as the prime educa-
tion objectives of advanced industrial countries, the most appropriate
type
of
education provision to meet such ends, and the most effective
methods of improving the quantity and quality of British education
without exceeding
known
budget constraints. For the most part, how-
*The author is presently on leave
of
absence from the University
of
Kent,
holding a one year research fellowship at the University
of
York during the
session
1968/69.
He would like to thank the
staff
economics seminar at the
University
of
York
for help in comments on the paper.
152
THE POLITICAL. ECONOMY
OF
BRITISH EDUCATION
153
ever, the debate has been pursued within the framework of the recent
tradition
of
British formal education, and in particular of the two
fundamental postulates, underlying British education policy, namely
that formal schooling should be compulsory and 'free' and that it
should be provided by the state. It
is
the aim of this essay to re-
examine the economic case for the state provision of
'
free
'
education
and in
so
doing to discuss issues which
all
too frequently are neglected
or dismissed without comment in the educational debate.
Formal
Education
in
Britain
:
The
Policy
Alternatives
There are at least five alternatives
to
the current British policy
of providing free formal education in state schools.
A
brief review
of these alternatives is a necessary pre-requisite to an examination
of the case for the current system.
The first alternative
is
the provision of a free market
in
education,
similar to free markets in other economic goods and services, which
are the rule rather than the exception in predominantly capitalist
economies. State intervention in a free market is limited
to
mainten-
ance of the rule of law, and to such particular forms of intervention
as are required by the prevailing policy of antitrust and the fiscal
requirements
of
central government. Within capitalist countries the
onus
is usually placed upon those who urge state intervention rather
than upon those who defend the free market to justify their case.'
The second alternative
is
to retain the principle of a free market
in
education, but to legislate
in
favour of compulsory formal educa-
tion for all children within a specified age-range, much in the same
way that a free market in motor vehicle third party insurance
is
combined with compulsory third party insurance in Britain. Whether
compulsory education legislation would be universal or selective in
incidence is a matter
of
detail rather than of principle. There is
no
necessary association between legislation compelling the purchase of
a
commodity and the need to subsidise the affected consumption.
Third party motor insurance is not subsidised in Britain. The effective
implementation of compulsory legislation demands however the
establishment
of
a
system
of
inspection and
of
machinery to
punish
transgressing parents. Moreover,
it
is unlikely that legislation requiring
specific age-groups to purchase formal education could proceed effec-
1
A.
Director,
'
The Parity
of
the Economic Market Place,'
Journal
of
Law
and
Economics,
1964
at p.
2.
'
Laissez fake has never been more than a slogan
in defense
of
the proposition that every extension of state activity
should
be
examined under a presumption of error. The main tradition
of
economic
liberalism
.
. .
has always assumed that there were some economic results which
cannot be atpined at all or attained only in inappropriate amounts if left
to
the
free market.
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