International Comparison

1. International
Comparison
DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATION AND FUNDING
BRENDA V. BASCO
Discussant

2. 10 Ways Schools Differ Around the World
1. Chinese Education- Emphasises Memorisation and Learning by Drill
. This is one of the reasons why China excels so much in producing
scientists, engineers and mathematicians – while these subjects do still
require a good deal of critical thinking, rote learning is certainly more
helpful here than in arts subjects.
2. French Schools- Religious Dress is Banned
A core principle of French society is laïcité, roughly translated in
English as secularity, though it goes rather further than secularity
normally would do in English-speaking countries. It’s the belief that
religion and public life should be kept as far apart as possible. . It is not
in principle an opposition to religion – atheists are a minority in France,
albeit a sizeable one – but the belief that religion and public life,
especially politics, should not mix, and especially that religious
justifications for political decisions should be avoided

3. 3.Irish Schools - Non- Or Multi-denominational
France and Ireland are both majority Catholic countries, but the
approach they take to religion in schools could not be more different. In
Ireland, there are 2,884 Catholic schools, which teach religious
education from a Catholic perspective and may choose not to employ
non-Catholic teachers or accept non-Catholic pupils.
4. Bangladeshi Schools are Sometimes On Boats
The country is demographically unusual, too – of Bangladesh’s
population of 165 million, 32% are under the age of 15, so the school -
age population is huge and places a significant financial burden on state
finances. Conventional schools have to close during flooding, leaving
millions of children with no access to education, so Bangladesh has had
to come up with an innovative solution: flood-proof schools on boats.
Non-profits working in Bangladesh have played a significant role in
providing these floating schools, often powered by solar panels, that
mean children can get an education even when the floods are at their
worst.

4. 5. Japanese Schools- Teach Moral Education
Japan’s school system appears to prioritise producing good
citizens. Moral education has been taught informally in Japan for
decades, but it is gaining ever more prominence in the Japanese
curriculum, being taught in some schools on a par with subjects such as
Japanese or mathematics.
6. The Majority Of South Africans Pay for their Children’s Education
South Africa is one of the rare exceptions, where the default is not
a school funded wholly by the state, but a state-aided school, in which
the state subsidises education, but parents who can afford to do so are
still expected to contribute financially towards their children’s
education.

5. 7. German Schools
Strongly Opposed to Uniforms , it’s because of the belief that
wearing the same thing makes the school population feel more unified,
contributing to a positive sense of school spirit and belonging. But just
as often, it’s for practical reasons, such as uniforms allowing students
from different schools to be identified more easily, or that they provide
a cheaper clothing option for poorer families, or they make it easier for
parents to get their children ready for school in the mornings.
8. The South Korean school day is very long
By contrast, South Korean students in secondary school can be at their
desks for 14 to 16 hours. The standard school day is 8am until 4pm,
which in its own right is long by international standards. But students in
the last couple of years of school will then go home for some dinner, and
head out again to a private school from 6pm to 9pm for intensive
revision. There may well be another couple of hours of homework to do
even after all of that. South Korean students are among the most
successful on international league tables, but it requires a remarkable
amount of work.

6. 9. Dutch students all start school on their 4th birthday
There are different approaches to starting school, and the age at which it’s
appropriate for students to do so. Often, the differences are more in terminology than
reality.
One difficulty that school systems do face is that if every student starts school on
the same day – say the start of September, as is the norm in Britain – some will be
nearly a year older than others, which represents a significant developmental
difference.
10. Norway’s high school graduation involves a three-week party
The tradition is that Norwegian high school students club together to buy an old
car, bus or van, which they then decorate. They wear red or blue overalls, which also get
decorated. And then they spend the next three weeks in said car, bus or van having a
wild party, driving between different impromptu or organised events, finally culminating
in their graduation.

7. The importance of school funding policies
This study on school funding policies was conducted for a number of reasons:
The mechanisms through which school funding is governed, distributed and monitored play a key
role in ensuring that resources are directed to where they can make the most difference. While the
overall level of funding matters, the strategies used to allocate and match resources to learner needs
are at least as important.
As most school funding comes from public budgets, developing effective mechanisms to allocate this
funding among competing priorities is an important policy concern for governments. School systems
have limited resources with which to pursue their objectives and using these resources efficiently is a
key aim for their activities.
Efficiency alone is not the main concern of school systems but needs to be achieved alongside the
quality and equity objectives that are at the heart of schooling. The report focuses on how school
funding policies can best be designed so that available resources are directed to supporting high
quality teaching and providing equitable learning opportunities for all students.
As efficiency in school education has traditionally been considered from an economic perspective,
this study aims to look at school funding questions from a more educational angle. It analyses school
funding policies taking into account the complexity of educational processes, the diversity of
educational goals, the range of different governance contexts across school systems and the
importance of social and institutional arrangements in developing adequate school funding policies.

8. Governing school funding
The governance of school funding across OECD review countries is characterised by complex
relationships between the various actors involved in raising and spending funds for schooling.
While the majority of school funding originates at the central government level, other actors also
increasingly contribute to raising funds for school services. Sub-central governments typically
Clarifying roles and responsibilities in decentralised school funding systems
Across OECD countries, sub-central governments are responsible for distributing the largest share of public
funding – almost 60% of final funds – among individual schools. They typically complement central school funding
from their own revenues while also acting as an intermediary distributing central government funding to schools.
While motivations vary across countries, fiscal decentralisation is typically expected to increase responsiveness to
the demands of local communities, raise the potential for innovation and adapt resource management to local
conditions. But achieving equitable expenditure outputs for students in decentralised funding systems requires well-
designed fiscal relations, adequate coordination and capacity building across different levels of government.

9. Supporting schools with their budgetary responsibilities
Budget management responsibilities offer potential for more strategic management at the school level, but
the effective use of funds requires well-functioning school leadership and management structures. Greater
autonomy over funding decisions might increase existing inequities between schools, with some schools facing
greater challenges in linking spending choices to improvement priorities. Administering and allocating funds
effectively requires time, administrative capacity and adequate preparation of school leadership teams. Experience
in OECD review countries indicates that delegating budgetary responsibilities to schools may create tensions
between pedagogical and administrative school leadership. While budgetary autonomy allows aligning budget
planning with pedagogical needs of schools, it may also place considerable administrative, managerial and
accounting burdens on leaders, reducing their time for pedagogical leadership.
Developing regulatory frameworks for the public funding of private schools
Over the past three decades, the public funding of private school providers has become more common
across OECD countries. The public funding of private schools is typically combined with parental choice
systems that are intended to encourage greater diversity and quality in the educational offer. However, a
number of risks for equity need to be taken into account.
Distributing school funding
School systems need to consider a series of guiding questions to design a funding model that best fits the
established governance structure. These include the following:
• Who is responsible for the final allocation of funding to schools?

10. Which resource categories does this apply to?
What conditions (if any) should be set for the funding allocation?
How much of the funding will be distributed via the main allocation mechanism and how
much via other mechanisms (such as targeted funds)?
What basis will be used to fix the amount of funding allocated to schools?
Providing equity funding to schools
A key concern in designing funding allocation mechanisms is to ensure
that funding is allocated equitably to schools that are most in need of additional
resources. The following challenges and trade-offs need to be considered when
choosing an allocation mechanism for equity funding.
Choosing indicators to design funding allocation mechanisms
In designing funding allocation mechanisms, systems need to pay
adequate attention to data requirements and the choice of indicators. For all
indicators, there is a trade-off between simplicity and transparency on the one
hand and accuracy and fairness on the other. Relatively simple indicators are
likely to leave out some parts of the target population

11. Designing funding formulas for current expenditure
The use of formula funding is well suited to the distribution of current expenditure and
many countries have introduced this. There are three broad functions that funding formulas can
aim to support. First, one of the most important functions of a funding formula is to promote
equity by ensuring that similar funding levels are allocated to similar types of provision
(horizontal equity) and that differential amounts can be added to the basic allocation according
to the assessed degree of educational need (vertical equity).
Planning the use of school funding
The process leading up to the formulation and implementation of funding plans is a key
stage of the budgeting cycle. It provides an opportunity to reflect upon previous expenditure and
future resource needs in order to develop financially sustainable budgets that support the
provision of high quality education and effectively address policy priorities.

12. Sources of funding
Today, more people are participating in a wider range of educational
programmes offered by an increasing number of providers. As a result, the question of
who should fund people’s efforts to acquire more education – governments or
individuals themselves – is becoming increasingly important. In the current economic
environment, many governments are finding it difficult to provide the necessary
resources to support the increased demand for education in their countries through
public funds alone. In addition, some policy makers assert that those who benefit the
most from education – the individuals who receive it – should bear at least some of
the costs. While public funding still represents a very large part of countries’
investment in education, the role of private sources of funding – individuals,
households but also, for example, contributors from the business sector - is becoming
increasingly prominent.

13. Key insights
 Education in OECD countries is mainly publicly funded, although there is a substantial level of private
funding at the pre-primary and tertiary levels
 Between 2015 and 2019, the proportion of government expenditure devoted to public expenditure on
primary to tertiary education slightly decreased across OECD countries
 Most systems rely on a mix of central and sub-central funding for schools
 The division of responsibility for public funding in non-tertiary levels of education varies greatly among
countries
 Public funding is more centralised at the tertiary level than at lower levels of education
 Compared to other levels of education, public funding for ECE is more reliant on regional and local
sources than central government, although there are great differences between countries
Many governments delegate responsibility for ECEC public funding to local authorities. As a result,
public funding is more decentralised in early childhood education (ISCED 0) than at any other level of
education

14.  5% of the total funds devoted to tertiary institutions were transferred from the public to the private
sector, on average across OECD countries
 A large share of government spending goes directly to educational institutions, but governments also
transfer funds to educational institutions, households and other private entities
 The average shares of public and private expenditure on educational institutions have tended to be
relatively stable over time across the OECD
 Although educational institutions from primary to tertiary level are still predominantly publicly funded,
their reliance on private funding is growing
 Private sources are more important at the tertiary level compared to non-tertiary levels (primary,
secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary)
 In many countries, private entities other than households contribute more than 10% to financing
tertiary education
 Higher education research and development relies heavily upon public funding
 Countries differ significantly in the amount of tuition fees charged by their tertiary institutions
 International funding may complement national sources of school funding

15. Private business and non-profit organisations contribute to the cost of pre-primary education in a
small number of countries
 Employers’ contributions to vocational education and training are an important source of private
funding in some countries
 In most OECD countries, there is substantial public investment in early childhood education and care,
but ECEC still has one of the highest shares of private funding
 Tuition fees vary not only across countries and educational levels, but also within countries for a given
level of education
Increasingly, countries are turning to alternative means to strike the right balance between keeping
student charges reasonable and finding sufficient funding for their tertiary education systems
 The share of private funding is strongly related to the level of tuition fees charged by tertiary
institutions
 Less than 20% of all tertiary students are enrol in independent private institution, which charge higher
annual tuition fees than public institutions for bachelor’s programmes in all OECD countries with
available data
Last updated October 3rd 2022

16. REFERENCES:
https://ourworldindata.org
https://researchgate.net
OECD (2017), The Funding of School Education: Connecting Resources and Learning, OECD Publishing,
Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264276147-en.
Education at a Glance 2022: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris 2022