Making Sense of Education and Training Markets: Lessons from England

Policy discussions in the United States around markets in education frequently lack an empirical base. However, for nearly twenty years reforms in England have emphasized market-like mechanisms to spur competition among providers and choices among consumers. We examine the research findings about En...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American educational research journal 2000, Vol.37 (3), p.601-631
Main Authors: Finkelstein, Neal D., Grubb, W. Norton
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to Information
Charter schools
Child care
Colleges
Community colleges
Economic competition
Economic Factors
Education
Educational Change
Educational policy
Educational reform
Educational Research
Educational sciences
England
Foreign Countries
Funding
Labor Market
Market mechanisms
Policy, reform, legislation
Social and Institutional Analysis
Training
United Kingdom
Vouchers
Western Europe
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Policy discussions in the United States around markets in education frequently lack an empirical base. However, for nearly twenty years reforms in England have emphasized market-like mechanisms to spur competition among providers and choices among consumers. We examine the research findings about English reforms in six areas. Supply-side reforms include efforts to enhance competition among institutions, to promote efficiency through subcontracting, and to mimic market incentives through performance-based funding. Demand-side reforms include a variety of vouchers as well as other mechanisms to enhance parental and student choice, including access to information. Finally, we discuss several equilibrating mechanisms intended to bring demand and supply into equilibrium. The English examples clarify the limitations of the quasi-markets introduced under current conditions. However, they also raise the possibilities of designing policy around strong markets with more competent suppliers and demanders of education and training services, as a way of escaping the conventional dichotomy of institutional versus market reforms.
ISSN:0002-8312
1935-1011
DOI:10.3102/00028312037003601