Student First! Weekly Update on Education

STUDENT FIRST! News
Weekly Update on Education (Issue No 261)	10 Dec 2013

- Andrew Humphries

Show Me One Example of a National School Voucher Program that Works!…Okay: Sweden.

We know markets lead to innovation, increased quality, and falling costs. Freedom is the sin qua non of innovation in every sector. If someone thinks she can do a better job, she should be free to try. The market will sort those that really do do better from those that don’t and channel resources to the more successful enterprises.

Some complain that you can’t compare cell phones with schooling. Yes, of course, cell phones and computers are different from education. Yet there is something essentially the same about them: they are provided by fallible human beings. Does anyone doubt that there are ways in which education can be improved? Does anyone doubt that some individuals have more knowledge and better insight into pedagogical methods and managerial practices than others? Competition is not just the pressure to do better than others to keep your customers. It is also the process of trial and error and selection of variations that offer improvement. A free market means the freedom to provide alternatives in competition with established players and the freedom for consumers to choose among available options. As the Noble Prize winner F. A. Hayek argued, the primary value of competition is the role it plays as a discovery procedure.

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Research

Study on Teacher Education for Primary and Secondary Education in Six Countries of the Eastern Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine
Authors: Aleksandra Duda (GHK Consultant) & Terence Clifford-Amos (External Expert)
Education and Cultural DG

Description: The country report for Ukraine, published by the European Commission Directorate- General for Education and Culture as part of a study on teacher education for primary and secondary education in the six countries of the Eastern Partnership, providing a detailed review of teacher education and training systems in Ukraine as well as outlining key challenges, trends and perspective.

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Education News

How much do we know about Education in India
- Forbes, 28 Nov 2013
The Karnataka Learning Partnership and Centre for Civil Society are taking the lead on compiling some data that are available to all while investors and private consulting firms have their own data sets that are not available in the public domain.

Education index shows growing north-south chasm
- The Times of India, 05 Dec 2013
There is a civilization difference between the south and the north as the Hindi heartland states continue to languish at the bottom of the heap.

PISA: China tops. India has fled the race
- The Economic Times, 04 Dec 2013
So to avoid embarrassment, the Indian government decided that it will not participate in the latest study.

Only a few admissions under RTE are genuine
- The Hindu, 06 Dec 2013
Even though the Act fixes an annual income limit of Rs. 2 lakh for parents to qualify for the quota, we found that many applicants had stated income above this level.

Ofsted warns over ‘wasted potential’ of poor white pupils
- The Telegraph, 08 Dec 2013
Ofsted’s annual report is expected to highlight concerns over results achieved by white British pupils from poor homes, saying that too many are being written off at school.

School Choice National Conference
Education 2025: Student First!
20 December 2013
Multi - Purpose Hall
India International Centre
New Delhi, India

Poll
Can homeschooling be a competitive choice against regular schooling in India?

To vote click here

Factoid
The government’s spending on education in financial year 2012 increased to 3.35% of GDP from 2.62% in 2005.

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