Education

This presentation was delivered as evidence by IFS at the first public hearing of the Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance, chaired by Lord Browne.

These slides were presented at an Inside Government seminar, 'The Future of Schools: Funding, Free Schools and the Academies Programme'.

This public economics lecture was delivered at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in November 2009.

Gordon Brown's speech to the Labour party conference confirmed that, if it wins the general election, the Government will provide free early education and childcare places for 2 year old children in low-income families in England by 2015, to be funded by scrapping the tax break on employer-provided childcare vouchers. Who will win and lose from this change, and what does it tell us about the Government's priorities?

At their spring conference this weekend, the Liberal Democrats will discuss a series of proposals designed to combat inequalities in Britain's education system. One is a "pupil premium [to] bring the funding levels [of] one million disadvantaged pupils immediately up to private school levels." How effective might this be?

A House of Commons report has criticised the lack of progress made by universities in widening higher education participation among under-represented groups, despite public money allocated to them for this purpose. But IFS research suggests that the key to improving access to higher education lies with schools, not universities.

This presentation was given at the IFS Public Economics Lectures on 8th December 2008.