Education: Public service output, input and productivity

Abstract

This article presents the latest estimates of publicly funded education productivity in the United Kingdom. From 1996 to 2009 productivity declined by 0.1 per cent, but this marginal fall overall masks three periods of greater change. From 1996 to 1999, productivity grew by 7.1 per cent, with an annual average increase of 2.3 per cent. In this period there was strong output growth, due to growth in the school age population, but only weak growth in inputs. From 1999 to 2007, productivity fell by 9.4 per cent, an annual average fall of 1.2 per cent. Growth in school attendance, once adjusted for quality, was outstripped by a sharp rise in inputs, mainly through the employment of more school support staff. From 2007 to 2009, productivity grew by 2.9 per cent, with an annual average increase of 1.4 per cent, as output grew faster than inputs, due mainly to relatively large improvements in pupil attainment at age 15/16 in England and Wales.