MAKING CHOICE WORK
Choice works when parents are able to find the educational opportunities most appropriate for their child. This means that new schools must be able to open and good schools allowed to expand. In practical terms, the value of the money that follows pupils should include an element of capital funding.
Schools will respond best to parents if they are free to manage their own affairs, in particular over the curriculum. Since the introduction of choice in Sweden, for example, new groups of independent schools have arisen with innovative curricula, teaching methods and designs of school buildings. Because choice makes schools accountable to parents, the rationale for strong central direction disappears.
Some school choice systems, notably those in Milwaukee and Cleveland, only benefit a small number of parents. The recent history of education reform in Britain, however, indicates it would be best to introduce school choice for all parents. Initiatives such as Grant-Maintained Schools and the Assisted Places Scheme only benefited small minorities of parents and as a result were vulnerable to abolition.
SELECTION
Academic selection is fully compatible with school choice. In The Netherlands, private schools, which educate 70 per cent of all children, are able to select pupils. In practice, because there are very few restrictions on the establishment of new schools, there is very little oversubscription and so very few schools practise selection:
“Unlike publicly run schools, which must admit all pupils, private schools can impose criteria for admission, usually when there is limited capacity or if pupils do not subscribe to the religious principles. In practice, however, most private schools pursue non-restrictive admissions policies” (Private Education Provision and Public Finance: The Netherlands as a Possible Model, Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank, November 2002).
