Session Information
Contribution
Improving the learning experiences of those students who are most vulnerable to marginalisation, underachievement and/or exclusion within school systems poses a challenge to teachers across Europe. Vulnerability may, for example, relate to language, ethnicity, social class, population movements, behaviour or perceived ability. This symposium considers recent efforts to address the problem in different countries and contexts, and aims to stimulate discussion about the vulnerabilities identified, the factors that contribute to experiences of marginalisation, and the development of strategies that ‘make a difference’. It will also consider the ways of linking researcher and practitioner communities in the development of such strategies, and will explore the possibilities for improving equity in our schools through learning from one another across system boundaries.
There is increasing attention to the need to improve equity within and across education systems, as expressed through UNESCO’s commitment to ‘education for all’ by 2015, building on its declaration that ‘everyone has a right’ to education (UNESCO 2000:74). This is fuelled by an increasing awareness of the nature and extent of inequities, both across and within national education systems (OECD 2007). Key features of inequitable provision include the facts that the most disadvantaged children, in general, attend the lowest performing schools; that the attainment gap between the most and least advantaged students is widening; and the acknowledgement that all schools, regardless of how good they are, fail some students. Such outcomes of our school systems present a worrying picture to those who are concerned about equity.
The OECD broadly defines equity in education as comprising two dimensions, namely, ‘fairness’ and ‘inclusion’. It states that fairness exists where personal and social situations do not present barriers to the achievement of educational potential; and inclusion exists where everyone is ensured a basic minimum standard of education. It argues that establishing that these dimensions frame individual experience will help break the cycle of school failure and social disadvantage. However, there is also recognition that although they are often held accountable for framing experience, every school is embedded within networks of local, regional, national and international policies, which are themselves interwoven into social, political and economic structures. Such policies can facilitate, inhibit or indeed nullify a school’s efforts to establish an equitable educational environment
Method
But, while the problems of establishing educational equity cross national boundaries, responses are largely confined within individual countries. This symposium provides an opportunity to scrutinize a range of initiatives and learn from each other. Each of the papers looks at practice in a particular context, but raises issues that have wider relevance across national systems. The examples reported also involve collaboration between academics and practitioners in the development and research process. Specifically, this symposium will address the following questions:
• What are the issues associated with identifying and tackling inequity in different European contexts?
• What are we doing in different places to try and resolve these issues?
• What factors, if any, at a local, regional and/or national level appear to facilitate or inhibit the tackling of these issues?
• What can we learn from each other?
Expected Outcomes
The methodologies used vary with context. The Danish paper looks at the design of an initiative seeking to promote equity in a group of Copenhagen schools. It focuses particularly on the ways ‘success’ might be judged,and the complexity of methods needed to evaluate this. The UK paper draws on its experiences of a three year practitioner-led project, in which schools collaborated with each while each pursuing their own, school-defined project. Practitioners and researchers have worked, and will present together. The Portuguese paper reports on a collaborative, action-research project aimed at spreading equitable practice between teachers and schools. It highlights that encouraging teachers to research and develop their own schools builds the capacity for teacher-leadership.
The discussant will seek to summarise and compare both substantive findings and methodological issues arising from the papers, and to structure a discussion of these that encourages questions, reflections and contributions from those attending the session.
References
OECD (2007) Executive Summary, No more failures: ten steps to equity in education, http://www.oecd.org, UNESCO (2000) The Dakar Framework for Action, Education for all: meeting our collective commitments France: UNESCO http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001211/121147e.pdf
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