Lifelong Learning Programme

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This material reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Also available in:

Publications

Homepage > Database > Publications

TITLE OF THE PUBLICATION
Equity and Quality in Education – Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools
SURNAME AND NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
OECD
PUBLISHER
OECD - Secretary General
PLACE AND DATE OF PUBLICATION
2012
TYPE OF PUBLICATION
Report
LANGUAGE OF THE DOCUMENT
English
LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW
English
THEMATIC AREA
Students with learning difficulties
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
This comparative report gives evidence on the policy levers that can help overcome school failure and reduce inequities in OECD education systems. It focuses on the reasons why investing in overcoming school failure -early and up to upper secondary- pays off, on alternatives to specific system level policies that are currently hindering equity, and on the actions to be taken at school level, in particular in low performing disadvantaged schools.
The report is the result of the thematic review, Overcoming School Failure: Policies that Work and it builds on the conceptual framework developed in OECD’s No More Failures: Ten Steps to Equity in Education (2007).
This is a very well organized and interesting report mainly because it shows evidence that equity can go hand-in-hand with quality; and that reducing school failure strengthens individuals’ and societies’ capacities to respond to recession and contribute to economic growth and social wellbeing. This means that investing in high quality schooling and equal opportunities for all from the early years to at least the end of upper secondary is the most profitable educational policy. Students who have enriching school experiences will be more likely to stay in education and successfully transfer to the labour market. Those who struggle at early stages but receive adequate, timely support and guidance have higher probabilities of finishing, despite any difficulties in their family or social background.
COMMENTS ON THIS PUBLICATION
It is a very well organized report, quite clear on the way it analyses the problems faced by disadvantaged students and also very rich on the way it brings a lot of empirical evidence of the causal relationships. Its added-value is related to the policy measures it suggests in order to, on a systemic way, solve the different bottlenecks that characterize the phenomenon. Due to the adopted methodology, with a strong scientific basis, it is a book that can become a reference, either for school directors either for teachers, providing useful clear guidelines also for policy makers.
Name of Compiler
Domingos Santos
Name of Institution
Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
Role in the institution
Researcher

20 December 2014

Final Partners’ meeting

The fourth partners’ meeting took place in Florence (IT) on 15 December 2014. The meeting had the objective to check the activities carried out since the third meeting of the project and share and assess the in progress results. A special focus has been dedicated to the presentation of the strategies to solve the case scenarios.