Equity in Education: From Theory to Practice

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Equity in Education From Theory to Practice

• OECD/Norway Conference
• June 4, 2007
• Ben Levin
• OISE University of Toronto

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Starting Point

• In theory there is no difference between theory
  and practice
• But in practice there is.
• Anonymous

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Outline

• What we know
• Challenges
• What to do
• This event

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What We Know

• Lets start with what YOU know

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What We Know

• Greater equity is a challenge in all countries
• But to varying degrees
• Sometimes for different groups
• For a variety of reasons
• Awareness and effort also quite variable
• But growing

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Education is Part of Society

• Education equity issues are social issues
• Closely related to socioeconomic status
• Affected by the economy, health, housing, social
  programs

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How Much Can Schools Do?

• Real limits on what schools can do
• Hard to show large-scale improvement just in
  schools
• But we do not know what those limits are
• Some countries have much better results
• Some initiatives do improve results
• We CAN do better

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• No society can realistically expect schools alone
  to abolish inequality. If students come to
  school in unequal circumstances, they will
  largely, though not entirely, leave schools with
  unequal skills and abilities, in both cognitive
  and non-cognitive domains. This is not a reason
  for educators to throw up their hands.
• R Rothstein, Class and Schools, 2004, 129

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But

• Nobody has yet attempted to redress inequity by
  investing two or three or five times as much per
  student in high need schools and communities.

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Policy Challenges Around Equity

• How much to do
• What to do
• Where to do it

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How Much to Do?

• Few countries have comprehensive strategies
• In school or more broadly
• Most countries make modest efforts
• 3-5 more , for example
• Often add-on programs

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What To Do

• How much focus on schooling vs other areas
  (health, employment)?
• If the latter, which areas?
• How to connect early childhood, schools, adult
  education and broader social policy?

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School Policy Choices

• Shift focus from special programs to mainstream
  teaching and learning
• Reducing tracking and streaming
• Reduce retention in grade
• Changing expectations and targets
• Building skills of educators

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What Matters Most

• How important is parent and community engagement?
• How important is money?
• How important is public support?
• How important is skill?
• How important is effort?
• How important is attitude?

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The Answer

• An effective strategy has to pay attention to all
  these elements, in an integrated and coherent way.

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Where To Do It

• Focus on schools or broader social services such
  as youth agencies?
• Importance of out-of-school (after school,
  summer) efforts?
• How much central direction vs local initiative?
• Role of civil society?

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Context Matters

• Leadership
• Political and institutional
• Public attitudes to inequity
• System capacity
• Will and skill
• Tend to underestimate this challenge

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So

• More can be done
• There is no universal solution.
• Each jurisdiction needs its own approach.
• A strategy is needed in each case, not just a
  series of initiatives
• There can and should be mutual learning.

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What To Do Next

• Learn more
• Experiments with different approaches with
  careful evaluation
• Share our learning
• More public dialogue
• Use what we know to generate debate
• More attention to public knowledge
• Must go beyond the education sector

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Long and Short Term

• Need a strategy
• Some things can be done easily and quickly
• Other things need the right circumstances
• E.g. political leadership
• But have to
• Lay groundwork
• Be ready to use opportunities

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This Event

• Share ideas, knowledge, experience
• Build networks for ongoing work
• Surface areas of ignorance or disagreement for
  further learning
• Think through real possibilities in each country