Helping Working Class Students Get To University Makes A Nation Happier
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Each year INSEAD produce the Global Talent Competitiveness Index, which aims to provide an overview of how effective countries are at getting the best out of their citizens. The 2019 report, which was published recently, reveals Switzerland, Singapore and the United States at the head of affairs in providing the best environment for talent to thrive.
“In the top ten of talent competitiveness ranking, only two non-European countries can be seen: Singapore and the USA. This underlines that Europe remains a talent powerhouse, but also that countries with great universities and a strong education sector are best at attracting talents. Because high-level talents are also more mobile internationally, no comparative advantage can be seen as irreversible, and those countries will need to remain open and innovative to keep their leadership,” the authors say.
Given such an environment, it’s perhaps no exaggeration to say that we live in an age whereby the success of countries is largely down to their ability to get the most out of their citizens. Interestingly however, the ability of nations to support even the poorest citizens with ample educational opportunities is not one of the metrics used in the study.
Inclusive cultures
Having inclusive educational policies that make education accessible to all people is not only something that has benefits to the economy of nations, for a recent study from Sweden’s Umeå University highlighted how they also seem to make countries happier.
The study found that policies such as delaying the streaming of children by ability or lowering the cost of private education all serve to reduce any gap in happiness between the richest and poorest in society. This is largely because education coincides with happiness, so the more educated we are, the happier we tend to be.
Unfortunately, in many countries there is a clear correlation between wealth and educational achievement, with children from wealthier backgrounds outperforming those from working class backgrounds. This creates a clear happiness gap before children even reach adulthood that is difficult to close for the remainder of our lives.
Supporting social mobility
The researchers compiled data from the European Social Survey, which has been conducted every two years across Europe since 2002. The survey explores things such as happiness and life satisfaction of young people from 25 countries around Europe.
This was then analyzed alongside four distinct education policies (streaming students according to ability; the provision of low cost education to all; supporting universities in extending access to more people; and helping students go to university even if they didn’t get the right grades) to determine their effect on the well-being of citizens.
The data revealed that young people from wealthier social backgrounds were nearly always happier with their lives than peers from disadvantaged backgrounds. The scale of this gap was significantly affected by the kind of educational policies adopted in nations across Europe however. For instance, if a country delayed streaming until a later age, it coincided with a negligible difference in happiness between people of different social classes.
“The age at which children were streamed had no effect on the well-being of middle class students, however children from impoverished backgrounds were significantly happier when streaming age was delayed,” the authors explain.
Similar boosts to the happiness of people from disadvantaged backgrounds was achieved when the cost of education was kept low, when universities were able to increase their class sizes and when universities were more accessible.
When these kind of policies weren’t in place, the results were stark, with significant gaps evident in countries such as Hungary and Bulgaria, but also in the U.K. and Germany, where things such as the high cost of private education played a major role.
Equal happiness
Interestingly, Denmark, which has also come out on top as the most supportive country for startups in Europe, came top as the most equal country in terms of happiness. It was also found to have the most inclusive educational policies, which the authors believe are instrumental to the happiness of Danish citizens.
“Among the wealthier western European countries, those with more inclusive education systems, such as Denmark, had smaller social differences (in fact none at all, on average) than equally wealthy but less inclusive countries, such as the U.K. or Germany,” they explain.
They go on to suggest that their findings underline the vital role education policies can play in the happiness, equality and social mobility of society.
“Schools have the potential to have a huge impact on children and youth and on their life chances, but a narrow focus on academic outcomes such as test results provides only an incomplete picture of the consequences of education policies,” they conclude. “I would recommend that education policy, especially at higher levels, are designed such that the opportunity to access education, should one want to, is maximised, either through institutional measures, such as widening access for poorer students, or through financial measures – such as lowering student fees.”
Improving the happiness of the nation is perhaps not initially springs to mind when one considers the virtue of enhancing educational opportunities, but this research is a timely reminder that doing so can offer many advantages, for both individuals and society as a whole.
