Educational Equality

What are educational policies?

A policy is a course of action proposed or pursued by either an individual, organisation or the government. More specifically, educational policies include plans of action that impact access to education and the quality of education.

The importance of equality in education

If you asked sociologists from different theoretical backgrounds for their opinion on the importance of education and educational equality, you'd likely get different answers from each of them.

• A feminist would say that it's important to have equality in education so that women can have the same opportunities and outcomes of financial freedom and independence as men.
• A Marxist would tell you that formal education only exists as a means to meet the needs of the dominant class and perpetuate a false class consciousness among the proletariat. In this case, educational equality isn't all that important because it's simply an illusion that makes us believe we've all got the same opportunities to succeed.
• A functionalist would make a case for the existence of a meritocracy, arguing that equality isn't necessary because less demanding social roles need to be filled out by less-qualified people.

Equality in education examples

Fig. 1 - Various governmental and organisational policies have been created and pursued to improve equality in education worldwide

Various governmental and organisational policies have been created and pursued to improve equality in education worldwide.

Educational equality (and, correspondingly, educational inequality) takes various forms. This can be about educational access, academic achievement or relationships and processes within schools.

In sociology, we see education (as well as other social phenomena) as being stratified along various lines. The aims of education policy are thus to achieve gender, ethnic and social class equalities in education.

Gender equality in education

The aim of gender equality initiatives in education is to increase the number of young girls and women seeking an education. Another key aspect of gender equality policies is to encourage young men and women to take up subjects that are not traditionally 'masculine' or 'feminine'. This means more men may choose to take up teaching careers, while more women may opt to study business administration.

Ethnic equality in education

Similarly, policies which seek to promote ethnic equality in education seek to combat the differential treatment of ethnic minority students in classrooms. Another significant component in the fight for ethnic equality in education is the increased representation of non-White perspectives and theories in school curricula.

Social class equality in education

Finally, another important example of educational equality initiatives relates to social class. Such policies aim to equalise educational opportunities and achievements based on the financial and/or socioeconomic background of students.

Equity versus equality in education

In general terms, 'equality' refers to a sense of similarity and/or consistency, whilst 'equity' signals fair treatment and the absence of preference or discrimination.

So, in the context of education:

• Equality means that all students receive the same standard of schooling regarding aspects like resources, materials, syllabus and facilities.
• Equity means that schooling standards are adjusted for individual students based on their unique situations. For instance, students from disadvantaged backgrounds or those with disabilities might require an extra hand to catch up with their peers, and the purpose of equity in education is to offer them that help.

Ways to promote equality and diversity in education

As we've seen, the core aim of educational policies is to promote quality, equality and diversity in education. We'll look at a few educational policies and assess their outcomes.

Educational equality: The comprehensive system

In the 1960s, educational policies were primarily directed by social-democratic ideals. Proponents of this perspective argued that everybody should have the same opportunities to succeed in the education system, not simply in terms of the goal of fairness and equality but also for general economic growth. They were critical of the tripartite system for failing to live up to these standards.

Purpose of the comprehensive system

The solution to this problem was to merge the three tripartite schools into one, creating the concept of the comprehensive school. Here, all students would attend schools of equal status and have the same opportunities to achieve desired skills and qualifications without the barrier of an entrance exam.

Support for the comprehensive system

Support for the comprehensive system came from the underlying rationale of achieving equality in education:

• Students who did not have the means to pass an entrance exam were given a chance to achieve their potential in a school setting.

• Where it was done, mixed-ability grouping allowed struggling students to learn not just from their teacher but from their more academically inclined peers.

• This also encouraged interaction between students from different backgrounds and reduced class-based social boundaries.

Limitations of the comprehensive system

However, expecting comprehensive schools to compensate for structural inequalities in wider society was a tall order, and it didn't quite work out as the Labour Party expected.

• Legislators hoped the comprehensive system would narrow the achievement gap between social classes. While there was a general increase in grades across all class divisions, the gap between working and middle-class achievement stayed just about the same (as in, working-class students couldn't 'catch up' to their middle-class peers).

• Supporters of comprehensives also hoped that the schools would attract students from various class backgrounds. However, because comprehensive schools recruit students from local catchment areas, they inadvertently ended up perpetuating class boundaries. This is also because where people live is largely determined by their social class/socioeconomic status.

• The commonplace practice of banding, streaming and setting reinforced class divisions by commonly placing middle-class students in top sets or streams and working-class students in lower sets or streams.

Educational equality: Compensatory education policies

In the UK, these policies were mostly taken on by the members of the Labour Party, who had social democratic values.

The purpose of compensatory education policies is to account for the deprivation of opportunities and resources among economically disadvantaged students and across deprived areas. Let's take a look at some of the most influential compensatory policies of the UK.

Fig. 2 - Compensatory education policies have been implemented in different ways all over the world

Sure Start Programmes

Sure Start programmes emerged in 1999, aimed at pre-school children in disadvantaged areas in England. These programmes were set up based on the assumption that the early childhood years are crucial for people's health, job prospects and overall development in the future. This was done through financial assistance, home visits and specialised centres.

Another common practice in Sure Start programmes involved integrating parents into their children's learning (inviting them to attend the centres with their children for a few hours a day).

Education Action Zones

Education Action Zones were set up in deprived urban areas where overall educational achievement was low. They were run by parents, representatives from schools, local businesses and select representatives from the local and national governments.

A grant of £1 million was offered to each zone, the members of which were tasked with innovating ways of improving educational attendance and achievement.

However, similar to comprehensive schools, Education Action Zones pushed for some improvement but ultimately failed to compensate for broader society's structural and socioeconomic inequalities.

Excellence in Cities

Fig. 3 - While many educational policies seek to increase equality, they often fail to account for the structural inequalities imposed by wider society

The Excellence in Cities programme aimed to improve standards in low-income areas and gradually replaced Education Action Zones. Their main areas of focus included:

• resources for the highest achieving students
• mentors
• learning centres with ICT facilities
• encouraging schools to network with other schools in their catchment areas, and
• learning support for at-risk students.

While the Excellence in Cities programme saw great success in terms of improving academic achievement, it is no longer running. Instead, all schools now receive School Development Grants.

Support for compensatory education policies

Compensatory education initiatives can be justified using Douglas's (1964) assertion that the shortcomings of working-class homes need to be addressed by the education system. Specifically, he argued that parental attitudes, motivation and support make a big difference in their children's academic achievement.

Moreover, Stephen J. Ball (1986) identified the attributes of working-class students who completed their schooling and achieved highly while doing so. Ball states that these students tended to come from families at the upper end of the working class, or the 'sunken middle class'. These families were usually homeowners and had experienced downward social mobility due to unfortunate circumstances like illness or bankruptcy.

Limitations of compensatory education policies

On the other hand, Neil Keddie (1973) argues that compensatory education policies imply the existence of relative cultural deprivation among the working class.

In other words, Keddie believes that disadvantaged students require compensation because their own cultures and standards are seen as 'lacking'.

He argues that cultural deprivation is a myth - working classes are not culturally deprived; they are just culturally different. They struggle in the education system because it is primarily characterised by middle-class culture (which working-class students are unfamiliar with).

Educational equality: Tuition fees

In September 2012, legislation passed allowing English Higher Education institutions to charge a maximum of £9,000 per annum in tuition fees. This was a significant increase from the previous fee of around £3,000 per annum. Students could take out a combination of loans and grants to cover the cost of the tuition and maintenance fees.

However, not all students were eligible for full loans and grants, as some eligibility required means-testing. For instance, while the loan amounts themselves increased, the eligibility to obtain them significantly decreased (from a household-income cut-off point of £50,000 to about £42,000).

Support for students from low-income households

After this legislation was passed, many were concerned about its impacts on the academic lives of students from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds. As such, several measures were made mandatory to minimise these effects:

• recruiting more students from poorer backgrounds

• annual bursaries for students on full scholarships

• discounts on university accommodation and services.

Yet again, these measures were not enough to combat the displacing effects of wider structural inequalities. This is reflected in the fact that the number of higher education applications dropped significantly in 2012. Those who did apply and get admission were consistently from more advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

As we have seen, several policies have been implemented to increase educational equality in the UK, all with their own sets of relative strengths and limitations. There are also many other types of educational policies which you can learn about, such as the privatisation of education, the marketisation of education and other government education policies.