ABSTRACT
Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men – the balance wheel of social machinery. The chapter examines recent evidence concerning the distribution of public expenditure on education in Britain, and offers some possible explanations for that distribution. It considers evidence concerning the distribution of what are often considered to be the 'outcomes' of educational policy – in particular, educational qualifications, social mobility and earnings – and discusses briefly the relationship of these distributions to education. Finally, The chapter concludes with 'Equality and Policy', specifies in as precise a form as possible the various egalitarian objectives that have at one time or another influenced educational policy, Estimates of the distribution of public expenditure on education have been produced annually for income groups by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) and for socio-economic groups (SEGs) in 1973.
