ABSTRACT
Social scientists investigating the links between investment in education and economic productivity have encountered problems in establishing direct relationships between educational investment and economic growth, in particular in attempting to separate out the investment and consumption effects of education. Paradoxically, progressive state education has come under attack from radicals who have argued that progressive schooling has developed precisely because it does meet the 'demands' of society. The radical attack on innovation has set approaches to educational innovation firmly within the political context of liberalism. Education becomes treated as a 'waste-paper basket' for dealing with society's problems - a danger well illustrated by C. Jencks's comments on American poverty programmes of the 1960s. The political right, the traditional opponents of radical change in education, have continued to point to the connection between progressive classroom practices and what are claimed to be falling standards in literacy, numeracy and general attainment.
