Page 361 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 361
why is esl a problem for contemporary (eu) society?
Only a few studies in Europe have evaluated anti-ESL measures with
regard to their cost efficiency (relationship between the cost of an anti-ESL
measure and the estimated benefit of reducing ESL).2 Existing studies indi-
cate that policies differ in their efficiency, but also that measures have vary-
ing impacts on different groups of pupils and in different contexts. Despite
their methodological limitations (e.g. the long-term effect of policies is of-
ten insufficiently factored in), their results allow the conclusion that the to-
tal costs for society created by ESL far exceed the costs of most measures
aiming to reduce ESL (European Commission, 2011; 2013; Nevala & Hawley
et al., 2001, p. 51).
The studies overviewed above show that the economic consequences
of ESL demonstrated as costs of ESL present a huge obstacle to further na-
tional and EU economic growth, and vice versa that countries can achieve
high total gains from cutting ESL. Accompanied by cost-benefit studies of
various interventions already implemented, this underscores the claim that
policies addressing ESL continue to be needed and represent a worthwhile
investment in the EU’s economic development.
Despite these very convincing research results, deficiencies in their
methodologies (cost-benefit, scenario-making, policy and social experi-
mentations) used to estimate the costs of ESL have been identified, which
somewhat question the credibility of their results (Brunello & De Paolla,
2013; European Commission, 2013; Green et al., 2004; Hankivsky, 2008;
Psacharopoulos, 2007):
- difficulties in scenario-making due to high complexity and the
rapidly changing environment of contemporary society and
economy (problems with estimating the medium- and long-term
consequences of ESL; predicting and including particular costs in
calculations);
- the issue of fully identifying the causal impact of education on
various outcomes (observable and unobservable characteristics of
ESLers and the control group on which the benefits of ESL poli-
cies are evaluated);
- the lack of data (a major difficulty in identifying education ex-
ternalities is that the output, as typically measured in national
2 For example, Levin (2009) demonstrated that delivering successful preventive pro-
grammes in the area of completing upper secondary education in the USA brings
benefits (USD 209,000) that are up to 2.5 times greater than the cost of intervening
per graduate (between USD 59,000 and USD 143,600).
361
Only a few studies in Europe have evaluated anti-ESL measures with
regard to their cost efficiency (relationship between the cost of an anti-ESL
measure and the estimated benefit of reducing ESL).2 Existing studies indi-
cate that policies differ in their efficiency, but also that measures have vary-
ing impacts on different groups of pupils and in different contexts. Despite
their methodological limitations (e.g. the long-term effect of policies is of-
ten insufficiently factored in), their results allow the conclusion that the to-
tal costs for society created by ESL far exceed the costs of most measures
aiming to reduce ESL (European Commission, 2011; 2013; Nevala & Hawley
et al., 2001, p. 51).
The studies overviewed above show that the economic consequences
of ESL demonstrated as costs of ESL present a huge obstacle to further na-
tional and EU economic growth, and vice versa that countries can achieve
high total gains from cutting ESL. Accompanied by cost-benefit studies of
various interventions already implemented, this underscores the claim that
policies addressing ESL continue to be needed and represent a worthwhile
investment in the EU’s economic development.
Despite these very convincing research results, deficiencies in their
methodologies (cost-benefit, scenario-making, policy and social experi-
mentations) used to estimate the costs of ESL have been identified, which
somewhat question the credibility of their results (Brunello & De Paolla,
2013; European Commission, 2013; Green et al., 2004; Hankivsky, 2008;
Psacharopoulos, 2007):
- difficulties in scenario-making due to high complexity and the
rapidly changing environment of contemporary society and
economy (problems with estimating the medium- and long-term
consequences of ESL; predicting and including particular costs in
calculations);
- the issue of fully identifying the causal impact of education on
various outcomes (observable and unobservable characteristics of
ESLers and the control group on which the benefits of ESL poli-
cies are evaluated);
- the lack of data (a major difficulty in identifying education ex-
ternalities is that the output, as typically measured in national
2 For example, Levin (2009) demonstrated that delivering successful preventive pro-
grammes in the area of completing upper secondary education in the USA brings
benefits (USD 209,000) that are up to 2.5 times greater than the cost of intervening
per graduate (between USD 59,000 and USD 143,600).
361
