ABSTRACT
There is a direct link between quality education and development, on the one hand (Ball, 2013; Hanushek, 2011), and individual wellbeing, economic stability, and the generation of improved “human capital and capacity to acquire means for the satisfaction of other basic needs” (Vos, 1998, p. 1), on the other hand. As educational budgets are a costly investment for governments, with many nations spending approximately 4.9% of their GDP in this area (5.5% for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] nations; World Bank, 2013), countries must seek to maximize the return on resources in their systems. Just as good investments yield improved results in education, poor investments in the wrong educational choices can actually cause harm and damage potential human capital. “Assessment of the impact of educational investments thus requires a close monitoring of the quantity and coverage of educational services as well as of the quality of these services” (Vos, 1998, p. 1).
