Stephen Machin|Sandra McNally|Gill Wyness
Educational attainment across the UK nations: performance, inequality and evidence
University College London|London School of Economics and Political Science|London School of Economics and Political Science|University of Surrey|London School of Economics and Political Science
background political devolution occurred uk 199899 following many years degree policy administration devolved four nations since devolution four countries uk pursued increasingly divergent education policies true england particular diversity choice competition become key focus education policy political divergence four nations gives us opportunity appraise differences similarities educational policies outcomes four uk nations purpose article comparative review education reforms constituent countries uk particular focus value money main aims article 1 outline key differences educational systems terms school type choice competition educational resources pedagogy 2 describe countries compare terms educational attainment compulsory schooling years 3 examine inequalities educational attainment gender socioeconomic status different countries compare measures 4 examine existing evidence effectiveness value money different education policies programmes different countries sources evidence use variety sources evidence achieve aims undertake literature review existing evidence effectiveness value money different programmes policies taken place across uk also collate undertake analysis data educational outcomes published statistics sourced national statistics offices country easier confident comparisons based international data sets case students taken exactly test also compile analyse survey data international surveys educational attainment pisa pirls timss main argument argue systems four countries uk becoming increasingly divergent still many similarities borne evidence educational outcomes show many similarities four countries similarities positive impacts many policies programmes adopted england may relevance scotland wales northern ireland conclusions find evidence increasing school resources improves results also targeted spending benefits able pupils disadvantaged backgrounds also find positive results several programmes evaluating education policies four nations terms value money therefore whether scope adopted represents bigger challenge whilst value money certain policies literacy hour reasonably well measured many policies value money hard pin accurately however forms important direction future research