School Choice and Student Well-Being

Our understanding of school choice and its impact on student well-being is under-theorised, and research is inconclusive in respect of the theoretical complexities involved in the way choice is offered, understood and actualised within families. Having a choice between a poor school and a good school, whereas previously there was only a good school, does not increase well-being. And what use is the freedom to attend any school for those without the wherewithal to organise family life around travel? School Choice and Student Well-Being attempts to construct a better understanding of these issues and their relationship to choice and well-being. Part 1 is an up to date and very comprehensive review of research on choice, globalization and the commodification of education, . Part 2 describes and adapts Sen's theory of capability to choice in schooling. The book comes at an important juncture in the provision of public education in developed countries, as schools struggle to provide the range and quality of education demanded by parents and needed by students, and governments, facing the prospect of societal and economic decline as a result of inadequate public schooling, rush to action.