Episode 8: 'Education without the state'. With James Tooley

Episode 8: 'Education without the state'. With James Tooley.
Vinson Centre Podcast Series (University of Buckingham)

In this episode, Juan Castaneda hosts Professor James Tooley, Vice Chancellor, at the University of Buckingham, Britain’s oldest independent university. Professor Tooley spoke about education without the state, which has been his research area for many years.

Professor Tooley first discovered ‘low-cost private schools’ in the slums of the Old City of Hyderabad, in India, over twenty years ago. He discovered that, rather than being taught in schools run by the state, many of the poorest families instead opted for private provision that was both affordable and also of a better quality than the education provided by the state. Professor Tooley soon realised that these institutions were plentiful, discovering a federation of 500 schools in Hyderabad. Moreover, low-cost private schools were to be found in other parts of the world, including in war-torn countries, and indeed available to the very poorest. Professor Tooley went on to discuss why it is that low-cost private schools have not flourished in developed economies, as well as the role (if any at all) of the state in education.

References:
West, E. G. (1965): 'Education and the state'. IE. London.
West, E. G. (1975): Education and the industrial revolution'. London: B.T. Batsford.
Tooley, J. (1998): 'Education without the state'. IEA. London.
Tooley, J. (2009): 'The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey into How the World's Poorest People are Educating Themselves'. Cato Institute. Washington DC.

On our guest: Professor James Tooley

James Tooley, PhD, was appointed Vice-Chancellor at The University of Buckingham on 1st October 2020, where he is also Professor of Educational Entrepreneurship and Policy. For two decades he was professor of education policy at Newcastle University. During those two decades, he also took five years’ unpaid leave, to enable him to foster entrepreneurial projects in education in the developing world, tied to his research. He was previously an academic at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester.

James’ ground-breaking research on low-cost private education has won numerous awards; including gold prize in the first International Finance Corporation/Financial Times Private Sector Development Competition, a Templeton Prize for Free Market Solutions to Poverty, and the National Free Enterprise Award from the Institute of Economic Affairs, London. His book based on this research, "The Beautiful Tree: A personal journey into how the world’s poorest are educating themselves”, (Penguin), was a best-seller in India and won the Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Prize. Other of his books include "Education, War and Peace" and "Liberty to Learn".

More on James Tooley's works and career available at https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/director...