Relationships amongst cultural dimensions, educational expenditure and class size of different nations

Abstract

Many studies have concentrated on investigating educational expenditure and pupil-teacher ratio to see how these two factors can influence the quality of education. This study chooses to examine these two educational factors from a different perspective. If educational expenditure and pupil-teacher ratio really have a significant impact on the quality of education as many studies have claimed, it is important to step back and understand why some regions choose to have high/low educational expenditure and high/low pupil-teacher ratios. This study found that culture has an important impact on these two educational factors. Hofstede's cultural dimensions, namely Power Distance and Individualism, were applied and results showed that these two cultural dimensions, when applied to 43 regions around the world, demonstrated a significant impact on educational expenditure and pupil-teacher ratio. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.