John is joined by Professor James Tooley, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Buckingham, for an insightful conversation about the role of education in the modern age, the relationship between parental and government oversight in education systems, the differences between public and private education, ideological uniformity in universities and more. James Tooley is Professor of Educational Entrepreneurship and Policy at one of the UK’s only private universities, the University of Buckingham, where he was also appointed Vice Chancellor in 2020. In his previous role at Newcastle University, Tooley directed the E.G. West Centre which is dedicated to advancing choice, competition, and entrepreneurship in education. In the early 2000s, Tooley took 5 years of unpaid leave to foster entrepreneurial projects in education in developing countries, led by his research on how to provide high quality education for a lower cost. Tooley’s ground breaking research has demonstrated the benefits of low-cost private education, with his work winning numerous prestigious awards and international recognition. James has also written numerous critically-acclaimed books on the topic, including The Beautiful Tree, Reclaiming Education and most recently Really Good Schools: Global Lessons for High Caliber, Low Cost Education. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intro: 0:00 Introducing James Tooley: 0:44 What is education and its purpose 2:14 How the University of Buckingham started 4:17 State vs parental control of education 9:00 Does private education yield better results? 14:42 Lack of diversity in thinking in universities 18:29 Are too many young people going to university? 22:04 Why are boys underperforming in school? 27:10 Education in developing countries 31:24 How do entrepreneurs start low-cost private schools? 37:17 Will more funding for public education solve problems? 43:06 Impact of lockdowns on education 48:44 Encouraging ideological diversity in universities 52:30 The challenge of empathy 59:25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conversations feature John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, interviewing the world's foremost thought leaders about today's pressing social, cultural and political issues. John believes proper, robust dialogue is necessary if we are to maintain our social strength and cohesion. As he puts it; "You cannot get good public policy out of a bad public debate." If you value this discussion and want to see more like it, make sure you subscribe to the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnYSEGViOnb7k8ezUaWUww?sub_confirmation=1 And stay right up to date with all the conversations by subscribing to the newsletter here: https://johnanderson.net.au/contact/ Follow John on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnAndersonAC Follow John on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnandersonac/ Support the channel: https://johnanderson.net.au/support/ Website: https://johnanderson.net.au/ Podcast: https://johnanderson.net.au/podcasts/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://twitter.com/james_tooley https://www.jamestooley.org/