Comparing different types of expenditure on teaching and learning materials : an emerging project

This paper will compare national and international spending on teaching and learning materials, focusing on comparing expenditure on textbooks and Information and Communication Technologies (lCT). It is part of a wider project to develop benchmarks for resourcing teaching and learning. Generally there is little data on spending and investment in textbooks and ICT. OECD data, for example, shows that costs and spending attributed to instruction and school materials are aggregated, making international and national comparisons problematic. As well, it has not been possible to compare spending on textbooks and newer ICT investments. Since it has not been possible to compare such investments it has been difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of spending on different ways of supporting teaching and learning. This paper will present new data on national spending on textbooks and on national and international investment on ICT. The data will be used to make preliminary evaluations of the different types of educational spending that support teaching and learning in classrooms.