An entitlement to post-compulsory education: International practice and policy implications for Australia

By Richard Curtain Research report 10 August 2001 ISBN 0 87397 746 7 print; 0 87397 747 5 web

Description

This report surveys European and United States approaches to public funding for post-compulsory education. It discusses the concept of entitlement which, in this report, applies to those policies which determine allocation of government funds to the training and education needs of the individual beyond initial or basic education. The report also identifies the different underlying principles that governments use in funding post-compulsory education in Europe and USA.

Summary

Executive summary

Post compulsory education and training has become the socially accepted norm for the vast majority of young people in most EU states - so much so that it is now regarded as a de facto extension of compulsory schooling and virtually a public right. (Green et al. 1999, p.11)

The purpose of this paper is to survey European and United States approaches to public funding for post-compulsory education and to offer an analytical framework describing how the funding is allocated. A particular focus of this paper is to identify the principles which governments use to determine access to public funding for post-compulsory education.

The paper identifies two stages in post-compulsory education now common in Europe and more recently the USA and their respective entitlements. The first stage refers to the additional education undertaken between the age at which the requirement for compulsory schooling ends and the attainment of a 'threshold qualification'. In the Nordic countries, the UK and the USA, government funding in the form of a universal entitlement is made available to encourage all young people to attain a qualification level deemed necessary to obtain work in a competitive labour market. For the second stage of post-compulsory education the entitlement to public funding is dependent upon meeting certain criteria for initial access and continued funding.

This paper identifies the different underlying principles that governments use in funding the two stages of post-compulsory education in Europe and the USA. In relation to funding to attain a threshold qualification, five principles are identified in relation to an entitlement:

  • The right to funding is to achieve a specified outcome.
  • The take-up of the entitlement also imposes obligations on the recipient.
  • The funding usually follows the recipient of the entitlement.
  • Additional funding is available to address identifiable disadvantages of the recipients.
  • The entitlement includes funding for support services.

In relation to access to funding for participation in the second stage of post-compulsory education, four principles are identified. These are:

  • an entitlement which is contingent on meeting academic entry requirements
  • a requirement, in many instances, for a personal contribution to tuition costs as a condition for receiving the entitlement
  • an obligation to demonstrate satisfactory performance
  • a move away, in some instances, from parental means-tested student support to making students responsible for funding their own support, in the form of loans

The penultimate section outlines mechanisms used in the UK and the USA to share responsibility for funding post-compulsory education and lifelong learning between governments, individuals and enterprises. The final section of the paper explains the implications of the main findings of the paper for the Australian context.

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