Blogs

The issue of teacher pay is controversial worldwide. Some argue that higher pay is necessary if we are to increase the status of teachers, and thus recruit, retain and motivate more high-ability individuals in the profession. However, others claim that higher pay across the board is not an efficient way to improve outcomes.

Charter schools are a controversial topic in America. Since their start in 1992, they now serve about 2 million pupils with the number of schools totalling more than 6,000 in 40 states. But do they work? Research thus far has focused heavily on test scores, although some have also evaluated the effects on graduation rates and college attendance.

In the last couple of years, Michael Gove has urged teachers to stop using new practices in the classrooms and return to more traditional, academic teaching methods. In this respect, he is going against the tide. In many countries, the idea of progressive teaching methods has gained traction among policymakers, who have begun to introduce them en masse.

For entrepreneurs to succeed, they need space to innovate that is sufficiently free of regulatory constraints, buyers who are receptive to their breakthroughs and uninhibited in their procurement decision-making and a competitive market environment in which efficacy and efficiency are the overriding priorities.

When analysing the effects of education reforms, researchers tend to restrict themselves to traditional outcomes, such as pupil achievement and attainment. There are exceptions, but they are still relatively few.