Economic Education in Schools and Universities in England

Abstract

The authors review three aspects of economic education in England. They examine trends in undergraduate economics in England, principally in terms of recruitment and outcomes and connections with economics in schools. They also review formal instruction in schools through so-called “advanced level” courses for 16–19-year-old students and the role of the academic community in recent research in England on economic education.

Keywords:

• curriculum
• research in economic education
• undergraduate recruitment

JEL Codes:

• A21
• A22
• I21

Acknowledgments

A previous version of this article was presented at the Symposium on International Economic Education sponsored by the Committee on Economic Education of the American Economic Association, the Journal of Economic Education, and the Council for Economic Education, held in San Francisco on January 6, 2009. The authors are grateful to the Economics Network of the Higher Education Academy, England, for their financial support, to the Universities and Colleges Admission Service, which provided the data, and to the referees for their helpful comments.

Notes

1. With individual-level data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the mean entry grades for economics undergraduates varied between 21.3 and 21.7 between 1998 and 2001. There was a change in the calculation of entry grade points from 2002. The mean entry grade points between 2002 and 2006 varied between 351 and 375, with most of this variation accounted for by the first year after the reform was introduced.

2. Details are available at http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/statements/Economics.asp#p8.

3. For example, economists from a number of research-intensive universities advised the Economics 16–19 Project in the 1990s. One of these, Barry McCormick, cowrote a resulting book (McCormick and Vidler 1994) and founded a publication (The Economic Review) aimed at students in schools studying economics.

4. This is as illustrated by the work of Barry Harrison and Roy Wilkinson as chief examiners for examination boards for A-level economics.

5. Details of the activities of the Economics Network can be found at http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/.

6. Details are at http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/projects/mini.htm.

7. Details of each of the projects can be found at http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/projects/fdtl5/.