Saudi Arabia: The Need for a Coherent National Strategy for Human Capital Development

Abstract

The chapter stresses some of the evolutions that took place in the French system of education over the last 40 years. Traditionally, the ideology of the deciders of the system was geared on the supply side with two main pillars, namely, (i) to focus on managing the inputs and schooling conditions both for efficiency and equity and (ii) to increase coverage so as to provide good chances to the majority of the population and therefore reducing social inequalities by progressive inclusion of those who are socially disadvantaged and possibly excluded when coverage is limited. The author suggests however the failure to address equity issues only via expansion of coverage at one level of the system does not alter as such the production of social disparities at the system level since the selective process that matters is generally postponed to the next level of education. The author argues, however, that beyond these traditional references, evolutions have gradually taken place. One of the evolutions has been to acknowledge that the goal of equality in outcomes implied that individuals who are lagging either due to their personal or social characteristics get greater attention and be provided with additional human and physical resources. This more individual perspective has been declined also with increased possibilities of parents to choosing the school for their children. But, at the end, additional resources for students with difficulties did not prove to be a very successful strategy, while providing more choices to parents has exacerbated social disparities. At the same time, and in line with European Union general directions, a related evolution has been to introduce student’s assessment practices (with a lot of resistance from the teachers) toward a stronger monitoring of the system.