No More Failures : Ten Steps to Equity in Education.

159 Pages·2007·2.813 MB·English

by  OECD

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No More Failures tio
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No More Failures
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TEN STEPS TO EQUITY IN EDUCATION n
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No More Failures challenges the assumption that there will always be failures and Tr TEN STEPS TO EQUITY IN EDUCATION
a
dropouts, those who can’t or won’t make it in school. In fact, initiatives in many countries in
demonstrate that it is possible to successfully tackle school failure and dropout rates in By Simon Field, Małgorzata Kuczera,
– and to reduce the huge social cost of adults without basic skills. This book offers a g
P Beatriz Pont
valuable comparative perspective on how different countries have handled equity in o
education. Among the issues it explores: lic
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• tracking, streaming and academic selection;
• school choice;
• secondary education structures and second chance programmes;
• grade repetition;
• links between school and home;
• early childhood education;
• resource allocation;
• targets for equity;
• the special needs of migrants and minorities.
The book identifies three key areas for delivering equity in education: the design of
education systems, classroom practices and resourcing. It proposes ten concrete policy
measures, backed by evidence, on how to reduce school failure and dropout rates. It will
be of special interest to policy makers, school leaders, teachers and parents.

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EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY
No More Failures:
Ten Steps to Equity
in Education
by
Simon Field, Malłgorzata Kuczera, Beatriz Pont
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION
AND DEVELOPMENT
The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 30 democracies work
together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation.
The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments
respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the
information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. The Organisation
provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to
common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and
international policies.
The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the
Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission of the European
Communities takes part in the work of the OECD.
OECD Publishing disseminates widely the results of the Organisation’s statistics
gathering and research on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the
conventions, guidelines and standards agreed by its members.
This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of
the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not
necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments
of its member countries.
Also available in French under the title:
En finir avec l’échec scolaire : Dix mesures pour une éducation équitable
Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/publishing/corrigenda.
© OECD 2007
No reproduction, copy, transmission or translation of this publication may be made without written permission.
Applications should be sent to OECD Publishing [email protected] or by fax [phone]. Permission to photocopy a
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FOREWORD
Foreword
T
here is growing attention to the issue of equity in education. Mass expansion in
education systems was linked to a wave of optimism that it would enable young
people, regardless of background, to achieve their full potential. If much has been
achieved, there has also been much disappointment. The spotlight of OECD’s PISA
assessments reminds us that in many countries an unacceptably large number of
young people are failing to acquire basic skills. No More Failures sets out a challenge
to failure, both in individual learners and in education systems, and advances ten steps
in an agenda for enhancing equity in education.
The book is based on an OECD study on equity in education, but it also draws on
evidence from across the OECD. The ten participant countries each prepared an
analytical background report, and in five countries an OECD team of experts conducted
a review visit and produced a report with policy recommendations. All these reports are
available on the OECD website at www.oecd.org/edu/equity/equityineducation.
No More Failures argues that equity in education is a key objective of education
systems and that it needs to be addressed on three fronts: the design of education
systems, educational practices and resourcing. The book is designed to be accessible to
busy people. The ten steps are set out in a single page at the outset, then expanded –
but still in summary form – to provide the key supporting evidence. The detailed report
follows.
The authors are indebted to the countries who took part in the study, to delegates
of other countries, to the expert teams who participated in the country visits and
provided invaluable comments on the report, and to OECD colleagues in the Directorate
for Education and the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. Our
particular thanks to Susan Copeland for her role in preparing the final text and to
Christine Mercier for the French translation.
NO MORE FAILURES: TEN STEPS TO EQUITY IN EDUCATION – ISBN 978-92-64-03259-0 – © OECD 2007 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
The Ten Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Executive Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 1. Introduction: Setting the Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.1. Why look at equity in education? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.2. Background to this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.3. The context: equity as a public policy objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.4. Why equity in education?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 2. A Look at Inequities in Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.1. Unequal improvements in educational attainment. . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2. Equity as fairness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.3. Equity as inclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.4. The two dimensions of equity overlap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.5. Policy implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter 3. Structures and Pathways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1. Differentiation in schooling structures and the risks to equity . 56
3.2. Early tracking and comprehensive schooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.3. Designing an inclusive upper secondary education system. . . . 67
3.4. Removing dead ends and providing second chances. . . . . . . . . . 74
3.5. Summary conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Annex 3.A1. Correlation coefficients between separation index
and PISA outcomes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Annex 3.A2. Regression analysis: Effects of selection by ability
on different measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter 4. School and Out-of-school Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.1. Equity in the classroom: interventions for those in need . . . . . . 88
4.2. Schools reaching out to homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.3. Home influence on school performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.4. Summary conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
NO MORE FAILURES: TEN STEPS TO EQUITY IN EDUCATION – ISBN 978-92-64-03259-0 – © OECD 2007 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 5. Resources and Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.1. Allocating resources across educational sectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.2. Allocating resources across individuals, institutions and regions121
5.3. Defining outcomes to take account of equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.4. Summary conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Chapter 6. Groups at Risk: The Special Case of Migrants and Minorities . . 139
6.1. The migration context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.2. Immigrant disadvantage in education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.3. Policy interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.4. Summary conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
List of Boxes
1.1. OECD Thematic Review on Equity in Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.2. Two dimensions of equity in education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.3. Recognising equity and inequity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.4. Equity in the knowledge economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.1. Who knows how things would have turned out? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.2. Parallel secondary education completion programmes
in selected countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.3. The Early College High School Initiative in the United States. . . . . 70
3.4. VET Reforms to improve equity and quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.5. Adult learning institutions in different countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.6. Work-based learning initiatives for the employed
and the unemployed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.1. An alternative approach to year repetition in France. . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.2. Tackling learning difficulties in Finland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.3. The teaching profession in Finland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.4. Developing learning communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.1. Directing resources to disadvantaged schools in France, Ireland
and Belgium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.2. Targets for equity in education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.3. The impact of high stakes schools testing in the United States . . . 129
5.4. Different approaches to reporting of school-level tests across
OECD countries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.1. Should data be collected on ethnic minorities?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.2. Swedish programme for Roma children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6 NO MORE FAILURES: TEN STEPS TO EQUITY IN EDUCATION – ISBN 978-92-64-03259-0 – © OECD 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables
3.1. Selection and school choice practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.2. Selected approaches to recognition of prior learning. . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.1. Year repetition in primary and lower secondary education . . . . . . 89
4.2. Estimated costs of year repetition in selected countries . . . . . . . . . 92
5.1. Public financial support for students in compulsory
and post-compulsory school (without tertiary). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.1. Language training for children with immigrant background
in basic education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.2. Language training for adult immigrants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
List of Figures
1.1. Income inequality varies across OECD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.1. Younger people have higher levels of education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2. Women moving ahead? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.3. How social background affects performance in mathematics . . . . 41
2.4. Attainment and the social mix in schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.5. The well-qualified make most use of adult education. . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.6. How many continue and how many drop out at different levels
of education?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.7. Getting a good start in life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.8. How many students struggle with reading?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.9. How many leave education before the end of upper secondary
school? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.10. Weaker performance by immigrant students (2003). . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.1. Social sorting between schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.2. Where attainment determines the school attended. . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3. Does school choice increase social differences between
schools? (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.4. Some countries with larger VET systems have lower dropout
rates (2001, 2002). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.1. How many students repeat years in primary and lower
secondary school?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.2. How home circumstances affect school performance . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.3. Learning time in and out of school (2003). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.1. Spending rises as students progress (2003) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.2. Universities or schools? Funding priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.3. Starting strong: big returns from early childhood education. . . . . . 118
5.4. Where education spending goes (2003). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.5. Regional variations in education spending: the example of Spain 123
5.6. Construction spending on public schools in the United States. . . . 123
6.1. Immigrant populations and their educational attainment
(2002, 2004). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
NO MORE FAILURES: TEN STEPS TO EQUITY IN EDUCATION – ISBN 978-92-64-03259-0 – © OECD 2007 7