Introduction

Studies of demand are characteristically matched by studies of supply. If it is important to examine the distribution of opportunity then it is also important to investigate the distribution of resources that can provide opportunities. The uneven facilities for continued education after the normal leaving age, teacher capacity and many other variables, have been well documented, a practice springing from the political arithmetic traditions mentioned in earlier sections. A useful recent guide to the still widespread variations in the quality and quantity of educational provision is that of J. Pratt, T. Burgess, R. Allemano and M. Locke (1973) which follows usefully upon the earlier work of Taylor and Ayres (1969).