Education spending and progress

The spending is clear - it has risen from £35.3 billion to £63.9 billion under Labour, - a near doubling in 12 years.

Has there been progress? Yes, in terms of buildings. Many fine buildings have been erected.

Has there been an improvement otherwise? Doubtful.

The office for National Statistics has concluded that that is inputs per output, between 2000 and 2008 productivity,has actually declined by 7.5%. (A similar result has been noticed in health spending.) Productivity now is about what it was in 1996.)

The suspicion is that productivity has not risen because there has been no real reform.

What of results, this should really be the yardstick?

In achievement, there has been an increase of one extra GCSE subject grade C pass per pupil every five years. This has to be admitted.(There are questions among many people as to whether standards have been reduced.)

Against this it must be recorded that for many students the situation has worsened. Standards in English and Maths are falling in more than half of primary schools. Forty per cent will leave primary school with inadequate grounding in the three Rs. The number achieving the the government declared level of competence has actually fallen by a fifth. To judge by comments made by employers the situation does not improve by when students leave school.

Clearly education is failing, and merely pumping money in is not sufficient in itself!

The question is whether the opposite is true, that reduced spending could drive up standards? To judge by the political parties recent statements, education will not be spared from cuts in public spending.

One significant development could be the adoption of the educational reforms advocated by Michael Gove. Could new schools set up and run outside local council control either drive up standards or reduce costs, or both?

The answer is "yes" to both questions.

I included a message earlier that education spending per student is roughly the same in public and private sectors, but the amount actually spent on each student is higher in the private sector, who do not have the massive bureaucracy locally and nationally which has to be funded.

In outcomes the private sector are generally better, with more passes and better grades. This is not unconnected with the last paragraph.