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Demographic and Social Change:
Implications for Education Funding.
Part V
Conclusion
This paper has endeavoured to identify some key factors that are likely
to impact on education funding into the future. It is evident that
population growth and changes in the age structure represent a steady,
though moderate pressure, on education funding over the longer term. It is
more difficult to predict the influence of broader factors such as longer
term trends in participation and the impact of social expenditures.
Historical experience shows that changes in participation have been a
major source of pressure on education funding in the past. Thus it seems
worth repeating that future trends in mature age participation and
developments in lifelong learning could have significant ramifications for
education funding over the next twenty years, as could a move by young
people to undertake longer courses. This paper has argued that changes in
education funding must be seen in the broader context of likely trends in
social expenditures. It would appear the ageing population and rapidly
escalating health care costs represent real sources of upward pressure on
health and welfare expenditures and to this extent are likely to act as a
constraint on growth of education expenditures over the longer term. In
the final analysis, expenditures on education will reflect not only the
impact of these broader forces but also their interplay with decisions by
government and community concerning the appropriate level of resources to
be allocated to education.
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