This volume of essays examines the empirical evidence on school choice in different countries across Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It demonstrates the advantages which choice offers in different institutional contexts, whether it be Free Schools in the UK, voucher systems in Sweden or private-proprietor schools for low-income families in Liberia. Everywhere experience suggests that parents are ‘active choosers’: they make rational and considered decisions, drawing on available evidence and responding to incentives which vary from context to context. Government educators frequently downplay the importance of choice and try to constrain the options parents have. But they face increasing resistance: the evidence is that informed parents drive improvements in school quality. Where state education in some developing countries is particularly bad, private bottom-up provision is preferred even though it costs parents money which they can ill-afford. This book is both a collection of inspiring case studies and a call to action.
About the author
Toby Young is the co-founder of the West London Free School, the first Free School to sign a funding agreement with Michael Gove, and served as the Director of the New Schools Network until 2017. He is the author of four books, the best known of which is How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2001), which was made into a feature film, and three plays. Having worked as a teaching fellow at Harvard and a teaching assistant at Cambridge, he is currently a visiting fellow at the University of Buckingham.
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