Key Observations on Education Policies and the Equality of Educational Opportunities

In this webcast we will shed light on three intertwined key questions concerning equality in education and pro-equality education policies: pro-equality educational policies in their policy context, the implementation of such policies and finally the effects on the transition process. The Webcast is part of a series and integral part of NEUJOBS, a European Commission FP7 financed consortium aimed at giving a comprehensive picture of the European labour markets in 2025.

Anna Thum, project leader at CEPS presents major results from recent NEUJOBS studies debates with Fabrice Henard, Analyst for Higher Education at OECD (Discussant) and Christoph Hilbert from The Conference Board (Moderator) focusing on the following questions:

1) Can we treat education policies as an isolated element, and are social and educational equality complements or substitutes? Is it a feasible approach to group OECD countries into different regimes of stratification or equalization both in terms of social policy and education policy?

2) How can a pro-equality education reform be pushed forward? What are main barriers and main drivers for such a reform? Based on a survey carried out on a selection of relevant countries (Germany, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and Spain), we discuss the political economy of pro-equality educational reforms and try to identify main drivers and main obstacles for the success of such a reform.

3) Do such pro-equality policies have the same effect for all pupils? We discuss, whether we think that a pro-equality reform affects everyone in the same way. We discuss the example of the effect of pro-equality policies across the performance distribution of pupils.