ABSTRACT
This chapter examines arguments and evidence largely in relation to technical efficiency: the size of educational institutions, the input mix, and the roles of parents, peers and pupils in 'co-production' and reproduction in education. It reviews what is known about inputs and outputs in education and the implications of defining inputs and outputs in different ways. Psychologists have examines ways in which students' 'academic self-concept' is developed through comparisons with their immediate peers in school and how university students' 'approaches to learning' are shaped by the nature of teaching. The feedback mechanisms affect what students put into their learning. Tony Kelly points out that measuring a school's effectiveness through the average attainment of its students ignores that school's impact upon equity in society. Although cost-effectiveness tends to be ignored in education evaluations, it has been included in the judgements of education interventions provided for schools and teachers in England.
