Policy research on the expansion of compulsory education: a systematic review (2015-2024)
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Countries worldwide are considering changes to compulsory education policies to extend the duration of basic schooling due to its benefits for individuals, societal progress, and economic development. However, such reforms involve significant challenges and far-reaching implications that must be carefully addressed. This study presents a systematic review of scientific literature published between 2015 and 2024. The articles were identified through two academic databases (WOS and Scopus) and two artificial intelligence tools (Consensus and Perplexity). After a rigorous filtering process, a total of 22 relevant articles focusing on the extension of pre-primary, primary, and secondary education stages were analyzed. This review explores the challenges, implications, benefits, and potential negative impacts of such reforms. The findings highlight the inherent complexity of policies aimed at expanding compulsory education. Key considerations include investment in infrastructure, teacher training and recruitment, opportunity costs, curriculum updates, and the importance of deliberate planning and coordination to mitigate the pressures on the education system. Notably, the review emphasizes that extending compulsory education particularly benefits vulnerable groups, including girls and adolescent girls, students from rural areas, and individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Nevertheless, the expansion of compulsory schooling does not automatically guarantee quality or equity. The study underscores the need for targeted measures to address these issues, given that education systems are diverse, unequal, and often inadequately equipped to accommodate diversity or provide alternatives for individuals who wish to leave formal education to pursue work opportunities.
Key words: compulsory education; educational policy; access to education; educational reform; equity.
Article Details
References
Afonso, A., & St. Aubyn, M. (2006). Cross-country efficiency of secondary education provision: A semi-parametric analysis with non-discretionary inputs. Economic Modelling, 23(3), 476–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2006.02.003
Akboga, S. (2016). The expansion of compulsory education in Turkey: local and world culture dynamics. Compare, 46(5), 789–810. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2015.1106306
Avendano, M., de Coulon, A., & Nafilyan, V. (2020). Does longer compulsory schooling affect mental health? Evidence from a British reform. Journal of Public Economics, 183, 104137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104137
Baltagi, B. H., Flores-Lagunes, A., & Karatas, H. M. (2019). The effect of education on health: Evidence from the 1997 compulsory schooling reform in Turkey. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 77, 205–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2019.05.001
Bamidele, J. A., Weinoh, O., Aminat, A. R. A., & Zakari, M. (2024). Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme and school dropout syndrome in Northern States-Nigeria. JPM - Journal of Perspectives in Management, 8(October), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.51359/2594-8040.2024.262973
Besche-Truthe, F. (2022). The Global Trajectories of Compulsory Education: Clustering Sequences of Policy Development. In Global Pathways to Education (pp. 65–96). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78885-8_3
Brilli, Y., & Tonello, M. (2018). Does increasing compulsory education decrease or displace adolescent crime? New evidence from administrative and victimization data. CESifo Economic Studies, 64(1), 15–49. https://doi.org/10.1093/cesifo/ifx027
Brunello, G., Fort, M., & Weber, G. (2009). Changes in compulsory schooling, education and the distribution of wages in Europe. Economic Journal, 119(536), 516–539. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02244.x
Correa, B. C. (2011). Educação infantil e ensino fundamental: desafios e desencontros na implantação de uma nova política. Educação e Pesquisa, 37(1), 105–120. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-97022011000100007
da Cruz, M. N. (2017). Educação infantil e ampliação da obrigatoriedade escolar: Implicações para o desenvolvimento cultural da criança. Cadernos CEDES, 37(102), 259–276. https://doi.org/10.1590/cc0101-32622017173587
da Silva, M. R. (2019). Expansion of compulsory schooling in Brazil: What happened to secondary education? Ensaio, 28(107), 274–291. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-40362019002701953
Dursun, B., & Cesur, R. (2016). Transforming lives: the impact of compulsory schooling on hope and happiness. Journal of Population Economics, 29(3), 911–956. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-016-0592-1
Elsayed, M. A. A. (2019). Keeping Kids in School: The Long-Term Effects of Extending Compulsory Education. Education Finance and Policy, 14(2), 242–272. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00254
Erikson, R., & Jonsson, J. O. (1996). Can education be equalized? The Swedish case in comparative perspective. Westview Press.
Erten, B., & Keskin, P. (2019). Compulsory schooling for whom? The role of gender, poverty, and religiosity. Economics of Education Review, 72(June), 187–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.06.001
Fischer, M., Karlsson, M., Nilsson, T., & Schwarz, N. (2020). The Long-Term Effects of Long Terms - Compulsory Schooling Reforms in Sweden. Journal of the European Economic Association, 18(6). https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvz071
Gluz, N., Oliveira, D. A., y Rodriguez, C. (2018). Políticas de Inclusión y Extensión de la Obligatoriedad Escolar: Alcances, Deudas y Desafíos en la Materialización del Derecho a la Educación. Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas, 26(155). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.26.3788
Grenet, J. (2013). Is Extending Compulsory Schooling Alone Enough to Raise Earnings? Evidence from French and British Compulsory Schooling Laws. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 115(1), 176–210. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9442.2012.01739.x
Gulesci, S., Gulesci, S., Meyersson, E., & Trommlerová, S. K. (2020). The Effect of Compulsory Schooling Expansion on Mothers’ Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence in Turkey. World Bank Economic Review, 34(2), 464–484. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhy021
Harmon, C. (2017). How effective is compulsory schooling as a policy instrument? IZA World of Labor. Evidence-based policy making. (348), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.348
Imlig, F., & Ruoss, T. (2015). Evidence as source of power in school reforms: the quest for the extension of compulsory education in Zurich. Paedagogica Historica, 51, 64–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2014.997753
Iñigo, L., & Río, V. (2016). Extensión de la escolaridad y obligatoriedad de la escuela secundaria en Argentina: el papel de la universalización de la lectura y escritura. Universitas Humanística, 83(83). https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.uh83.eeoe
Juusola, H. (2023). What do young people think about the extension of compulsory education? Educational Research, 65(4), 478–495. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2023.2263885
Kassenboehmer, S. C., Schurer, S., & Sulzmaier, D. (2021). Gender differences in the life-cycle benefits of compulsory schooling policies. European Economic Review, 141, 103986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103910
Kırdar, M. G., Dayıoğlu, M., & Koç, İ. (2018). The effects of compulsory-schooling laws on teenage marriage and births in Turkey. Journal of Human Capital, 12(4), 640–668. https://doi.org/10.1086/700076
Kunt Šimunović, P. (2024). Education increases patience: Evidence from a change in a compulsory schooling law. Economics and Human Biology, 53(March). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101375
Lewis, B. D., & Nguyen, H. T. M. (2020). Assessing the causal impact of compulsory schooling policy in Indonesia. International Journal of Educational Research, 104, 101693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101693
Maeda, N., Someya, M., & Hatada, S. (2024). Prevention of School Attendance Problems in Japan: A Macro-Level Perspective on Avoidance Behaviour. Journal of Psychology & Behavior Research, 6(2), p69. https://doi.org/10.22158/jpbr.v6n2p77
Mesomo, A. C. & Souza, L. (2019). Obrigatoriedade de matrícula na pré-escola: análise do ponto de vista das famílias. Linhas Críticas, 25, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.26512/lc.v25.2019.26433
OECD. (2012). Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264130852-en
Oppong-Nkrumah, O., Kaufman, J. S., Heymann, J., Frank, J., & Nandi, A. (2019). The impact of increasing the minimum legal age for work on school attendance in low- and middle-income countries. SSM - Population Health, 8(June), 100426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100426
Osorio, L. (2019). Política de ampliación de la jornada escolar y algunas de sus implicaciones. Educación y Humanismo, 21(36), 194–209. https://doi.org/10.17081/eduhum.21.36.3149
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., … Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. The BMJ, 372. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
Peng, W., & Wang, Y. (2024). Weathering the Storm: How do Free Compulsory Education and Early-life Shocks Shape Long-Term Education Attainment? Peking University Research Repository (PKU). https://econ.pku.edu.cn/docs/2024-06/20240619161431651594.pdf
Rauscher, E. (2015). Educational expansion and occupational change: US compulsory schooling laws and the occupational structure 1850-1930. Social Forces, 93(4), 1397–1422. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sou127
Rauscher, E. (2016). Does educational equality increase mobility? Exploiting nineteenth-century U.S. compulsory schooling laws. American Journal of Sociology, 121(6), 1697–1761. https://doi.org/10.1086/685443
Rolleston, C., & Iyer, P. (2019). Beyond the basics: Access and equity in the expansion of post-compulsory schooling in Vietnam. International Journal of Educational Development, 66(September 2018), 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2018.09.002
Sanz Ponce, J. R., Giménez Beut, J. A., García Grau, P., y López Luján, E. (2023). Dificultades de enseñanza. Un análisis de las percepciones de los estudiantes del Máster del Profesorado. Profesorado, Revista de currículum y formación del profesorado, 27(3), 197–218. https://doi.org/10.30827/profesorado.v27i3.28005
Tominey, E. (2010). The Timing of Parental Income and Child Outcomes: The Role of Permanent and Transitory Shocks. Centre for the Economics of Education. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1690063
UNESCO. (2019). Informe de seguimiento de la educación en el mundo. Migración, desplazamiento y educación. Construyendo puentes, no muros. Ediciones Unesco. https://doi.org/10.54676/IWWM5074
Valente, C. (2019). Primary education expansion and quality of schooling. Economics of Education Review, 73(June 2018), 101913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.101913
Valero-Gil, J., & Valero, M. (2022). Why has there been a fall in child labour and an increase in school attendance in Mexico? Development Policy Review, 40(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12611