Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Acronyms
- Preface
- PART I THE SETTING
- PART II ECONOMIC THEORIES ABOUT EDUCATION
- PART III EDUCATION POLICIES
- 4 Resources and outcomes
- 5 Productivity and efficiency
- 6 Economic policies in higher education
- 7 Preparation for work
- 8 Markets in education
- 9 Private and public education
- PART IV CONCLUSION
- References
- Index
5 - Productivity and efficiency
from PART III - EDUCATION POLICIES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Acronyms
- Preface
- PART I THE SETTING
- PART II ECONOMIC THEORIES ABOUT EDUCATION
- PART III EDUCATION POLICIES
- 4 Resources and outcomes
- 5 Productivity and efficiency
- 6 Economic policies in higher education
- 7 Preparation for work
- 8 Markets in education
- 9 Private and public education
- PART IV CONCLUSION
- References
- Index
Summary
The education system is required to produce more than before, using resources that are increasingly inadequate. Education is required to be both more efficient and more productive. These are proper objectives. Nevertheless, in human services such as education it is difficult to define and measure ‘outputs’ and productivity, whereas costs are easy to measure. There is a danger that policy will take a narrow cost-cutting approach, weakening the long-term productive capacity of education. This chapter argues for a more constructive policy, through a sharper focus on the productivity of education than on its efficiency.
MORE OUTPUTS FOR LESS COST
THE EMERGENCE OF PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY POLICIES
Public policies on education usually take it as given that public expenditure will remain constrained, that education needs to do more, and that the productivity and efficiency of educational institutions can and must be improved. Productivity and efficiency policies originate from the desire for value for money in a period of expenditure restraint (OECD 1990b: 8). The objective is to maximise outputs and minimise costs.
The commonwealth government opened up the question of productivity and efficiency in higher education in August 1985 (CTEC 1986: xv). In December 1987 the Green Paper on higher education said that the ‘quality, productivity and adaptability’ of staff were central to the future development of the system, and that ‘the Government has a considerable interest in the effective and efficient implementation of policies’ (Dawkins 1987: 55, 51).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Education and Public Policy in Australia , pp. 102 - 121Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993