Devolution and geographies of education: the use of the Millennium Cohort Study for 'home international' comparisons across the UK

Taylor, Christopher Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9146-9167, Rees, Gareth Meredydd and Davies, Owen Rhys ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3479-625X 2013. Devolution and geographies of education: the use of the Millennium Cohort Study for 'home international' comparisons across the UK. Comparative Education 49 (3) , pp. 290-316. 10.1080/03050068.2013.802927

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Abstract

Following political devolution in the late 1990s and the establishment of the governments for Wales and Scotland, the education systems of the four home countries of the UK have significantly diverged. Consequently, not only does that mean that education research in the UK has to be sensitive to such divergence, but that the divergence of policy and practice provides an important opportunity to undertake comparative research within the UK. Such ‘home international’ comparisons between the four home countries of the UK also provide the opportunity to undertake ‘natural experiments’ of education policy and practice across similar socio-economic contexts. By drawing specifically on the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) – a recent longitudinal birth cohort study specifically designed to provide the potential for geographical analysis – the paper finds considerable variation in child development by country of the UK, with no single story of ‘success’. However, the paper finds that literacy development amongst children in England is, particularly in London, on average, greater than for children elsewhere. The paper concludes by arguing that ‘home international’ comparisons must take seriously issues of scale and geography when interpreting the influence of ‘national’ education systems and policies on educational outcomes.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD)
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	0305-0068
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2024 07:04
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/48973

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