The Governance of Educational Welfare Markets

This book is a first exploratory inquiry into possible educational selectivity effects of the European Social Fund (ESF). It assesses the extent of the gap between the social policy objectives set through regulatory competences in multi-level governance and the structure of incentives it breeds in practice, with a broad range of implications for the capacity of the government to control for an equitable distribution of services at the community level.

Autorentext

Daniel Pop leads research at the Education Support Program of the Open Society Foundations. His research focuses on regulatory governance of public service commissioning and the operations of related quasi-markets. Cristina St nüCristina St nü is lecturer at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania. Her research interests focus on the comparative study of local governance and politics and educational policy.

Inhalt

Contents: Cristina St nü/Daniel Pop: Introduction: Conceptualizing educational service delivery markets created through the ESF Sashka Dimova: Linking ESF implementation with low administrative capacity: The case of Bulgaria Dana Praáková: Balancing ESF goals with established national policy on special education: The case of the Czech Republic Anna Csongor: ESF-funded education delivery under arbitrary rule-making: The case of Hungary Cristina St nü: Rule rigidity in face of public pressure: The case of Romania Marek Hojsik: ESF as a substitute for national education funding: The case of Slovakia Cristina St nü: The educational selectivity effects of bureaucratic discretion: Conclusion and policy recommendations.