"Education's productivity can be improved if educators and politicians take its costs and effectiveness into consideration"

No system is perfect. Education is marked by the tensions that stem from having public and private goals, and the need to strike a balance between those two functions. Education's public function consists of transmitting social values, a language, and knowledge of each place's social reality. Its private function is to generate profit and enhance students' private welfare. Governments, given education's social benefits, i.e. social and democratic values, and also because societies with a high level of education are the most productive in economic terms. Education is at its most efficient with free market values. The state shouldn't monopolize education, and families should be free to choose whichever school they want. One of the greatest is achieving social cohesion. In Europe, for example, the effect of immigration is a concern. On one hand, we need immigrants because the birth rate among Europeans is falling. On the other hand, we have to make sure immigrants integrate so that they become part of society. The Catalan education system, for instance, is doing a great job where social cohesion is concerned. The Catalan language is a major factor in cohesion in Catalonia. School vouchers allow for education to be publicly funded while enabling families to choose whichever school they wish. The government gives each family a voucher to cover the cost of education and the family can then select the school they want their children to attend. The policy results in the schools with the most appealing programmes attracting the most pupils. Schools that fail to attract pupils disappear. Sweden's society was very homogeneous until recently. They established the school voucher system in 1992. The consequent freedom of choice has had a huge impact. Results in international assessment tests ?PISA, TIMSS? have taken a downturn, and segregation and inequality have increased, with immigrants grouped together in particular schools. The system has failed dismally.

I participated in an event involving the Swedish Royal Academy not long ago, and they told me how disappointed they are with the system. There's now a major debate on which education model to use. It has long been said that the private sector ought to get more involved in education. How should we make that happen though? The problem is that existing sources are very subjective. They're either totally in favour of the idea or, as in the case of organizations of teachers, who are concerned about their role and see privatization as a threat to democracy, totally against it. In the light of those two opposing points of view, we wanted to establish a neutral organization to carry out research into privatization in education, one that would be a reliable source for the media and stakeholders working in education. We carry out research to determine educational programmes' costs and their economic impact. Education's productivity can be improved if educators and politicians take its costs and effectiveness into consideration.

We're currently working on a study of the cost of American NEETs to society, in terms of the expenditure they represent in relation to public health, the justice system, etc. Accelerated Schools was an attempt to provide the finest education, to which only the most privileged classes normally have access, for the poorest classes, i.e. immigrants, single-parent families, etc.

The initiative represented a change with regard to what was being done at the time, as education for the poorest classes was paternalistic, of a lower standard than that of other students. If you assume from the outset that a pupil isn't worth much effort, they'll never achieve a high level of education. That's why we decided to give them the best education available in the USA, the same as exceptionally gifted students receive. We designed a curriculum that pupils would find stimulating, that would arouse their curiosity ?all children have curiosity, until we kill it off. Accelerated Schools also promotes the personal growth of pupils, members of their family and their teachers.

We were very enthusiastic about the idea. We started in 1996. By about the year 2000 we had over 1,000 schools in 40 US states and 50 schools in Hong Kong. We were getting really good results. Our progress has been halted though, because for the last two years the federal government has been pressurizing the schools, which now lack the freedom they need to do a good job. We're seeing that academic success doesn't guarantee professional success. There are other significant factors, such as personality, motivation and enthusiasm, which are vital to succeeding in the job market. We're also seeing a relationship between the number of years people spend at school and their professional development. Spending longer studying means not only acquiring more knowledge, but also gaining more social skills and enjoying better job prospects.