School: a matter of choice

How much choice should parents and pupils have over which school to attend? This question has been at the centre of some of the recent educational policy debates about the role of consumer preferences. In some OECD countries, rules allocating public school places according to residence have been relaxed. Public subsidies to private schools have sometimes been seen as a way of broadening choice. Recent experience shows that policies to increase school choice bring dangers as well as opportunities. This report looks at how such policies have functioned in practice, in particular in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Competition can potentially enable successful schools to choose their pupils rather than the reverse. Choice might therefore be thought to work best where students do not vie for places at the same institution, and where different schools offer various educational philosophies or subject specialisations. Public policy may therefore need to encourage diversity as well as choice in education. (PHF/übern.)