Economic Activity - Education & Inequality
Geography: Edexcel A Level, topic 5.1.4
The Social Implications of Economic Activity - Education
Economic activity affects many different aspects of society. Inequality in pay and different types of employment affect people's quality of life, including people's education:
Inequality in education provision
- Educational provision and educational outcomes are unequal in the UK.
- Some private schools, like St Pauls' School for Boys in London, may have 15 Maths teachers, while others don't have many specialised Maths teachers.
- In the UK, some students attend private schools (where students' parents have to pay to attend), some attend grammar schools (which have entry tests) and most people attend comprehensive schools.
Education outcomes linked to income
- Outcomes in education, as measured by examination success, are strongly correlated with (linked to) income levels.
- Working class children from white backgrounds who live in poverty have the lowest levels of educational attainment.
Education outcomes linked to gender
- Boys are more likely to have worse examination results than girls.
- Boys from Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African origins are particularly likely to get worse examination results than girls.
The Social Implications of Economic Activity - Inequality
Economic activity affects many different aspects of society. Inequality in pay and different types of employment affect people's quality of life:
Inequality in education
- As we learned previously, educational provision and educational outcomes are unequal in the UK.
- Some private schools, like St Pauls' School for Boys in London, may have 15 Maths teachers, while others don't have many specialised Maths teachers.
- In the UK, some students attend private schools (where students' parents have to pay to attend), some attend grammar schools (which have entry tests) and most people attend comprehensive schools.
Inequality in income and wealth
- Inequality in income is different to inequality in wealth.
- Income refers to one years' earnings, but wealth is a stock of assets that can include houses and stocks/shares.
Inequality as a wasted resource
- High inequality can reduce the potential for economic growth.
- Some people argue that there is a 'trickle down effect', where income and wealth from the richest spill down across society. This does not necessarily happen if the richest save the money.
Inequality across the UK
- There is a huge disparity in incomes and cost of living nationally and locally.
- Prices in London for rent (housing costs) and food are often higher than in the rest of the UK, making the 'cost of living' higher.
- Because of this, some jobs in London pay an additional 'London Allowance'.
- Teachers working in London are paid more than teachers elsewhere in the UK because of this difference in the cost of living.
Inequality across economic activity types
- People working in the primary sector and low-level services (e.g. in the care industry) receive lower pay than those in more skilled and professional sectors.
- Seasonal employment and insecure employment (like zero-hours contracts) often pay less than other jobs.
Measuring Inequality
The number of people visiting food banks in the UK rose 13% in 2018. This suggests that inequality may be rising if the richest are not getting poorer. We measure inequality using a composite index - the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Composite index
- A composite index is a way of grouping different factors and weighting each factor differently.
- Different groups of people may choose to weight different factors differently.
Index of Multiple Deprivation
- Seven variables are measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation:
- Income.
- Employment.
- Health deprivation or disability.
- Education and training.
- Crime.
- Access to housing.
- Environment to live in.
Omitted variables
- An index cannot include every variable in the world.
- Variables that are hard to measure may not be included (e.g stress levels).
- There are also value judgments about which variables to include.
Test yourself on Economic Activity - Education & Inequality
By how much did the number of people visiting food banks in the UK rise by in 2018?
How many variables are used in the Index of Multiple Deprivation?