Policy And Practice Challenges For Equality In Education

Well-educated populations are important aspects of any contemporary society, as education increases national and global development and the positive expansion of communities to participate actively in civil matters also increases. Educational equality is based on the principles of administrative competence and fairness of access and distribution of resources, opportunities, and treatment, which ensures success for every person. Ensuring equal access to quality education requires addressing a wide range of persistent inequalities in society and includes a stronger focus on how different forms of inequalities intersect to produce unequal opportunities or outcomes that affect marginalized and vulnerable groups. Policy and Practice Challenges for Equality in Education takes a multifaceted look at issues of equality and inequality in education as related to policy, practice, resource access, and distribution. As such, this book explores the potential practices in education that serve to mitigate and transform unproductive practices which have left societies scarred by social and educational inequalities. The chapters provide a critical analysis of the manifestations of inequalities in various educational contexts and discerns how broader social inequalities are informed by education-related matters. This book is ideal for sociologists, administrators, instructors, policymakers, data scientists, community leaders, practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in educational equality and the unique challenges being faced worldwide.

This book combines analysis of policy and empirically based studies on gender, education, and development.

This book focuses on the voices and experiences of non-traditional students in European higher education. It examines the impact that access to higher education is having on these students’ lives and discusses what this tells us about European education and society. In particular, it explores the multi-dimensional nature of inequality in varied national contexts focusing on the issues of class, gender, ethnicity, age and disability. The book contributes to the on-going debate about the changing nature of European higher education and argues that research based on the experiences of non-traditional students can be used to improve policy and practice in tertiary education. Drawing on biographical narrative interviews with ‘non-traditional’ students, the book covers topics including: • the contemporary nature of inequality and how the various forms of inequality intersect and overlap in higher education and society • the formation and transformation of learner identities • the structural barriers faced by non-traditional students • the sources of student resilience and agency • a comparison of patterns of inequality, access and retention in various European countries • the implications of these findings for practice and policies. Student Voices on Inequalities in Higher Education will appeal to academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners working in higher education institutions as well as people working in the field of widening participation, adult education, access and centres for teaching and learning. It will also be of interest to postgraduate students in higher education.

Contributors discuss some key challenges in achieving gender equality in education, give examples of initiatives in a range of contexts, and make recommendations for action. They suggest that there is a more substantive goal to aim for than gender parity, for an equitable education system which allows all individuals to develop their potential.

This book presents ideas on education, gender and intersectionality through a transdisciplinary frame by crossing disciplinary and methodological borders. Exploring the diversity of educational settings ranging from early childhood to adult education, it brings together scholars from various disciplines to discuss, deconstruct and problematize gender and education in relation to several themes in a comparative, intersectional, local, national, regional and international perspective. Each chapter approaches the topic in an intersectional and/or transnational manner and creates powerful gendered educational knowledge. Questions addressed in the book include: What are the challenges or barriers to gender-equal education? How can we understand the gaps between formal policies and educational practices? The chapters in the book illustrate how gender and education are relevant and needed concepts within the field of transdisciplinary research. The authors hail from a range of countries, such as Croatia, Indonesia, Turkey, UK, as well as the Nordic region, and they critically examine gender and education at all levels and in diverse sectors, and with varied lenses, such as neoliberalism in education, and the inclusion of newcomers and refugees. The work also critically investigates programs and pedagogical approaches, culture and values, knowledge and identity in teacher education. The book further addresses criticisms of Western and Anglophone bias around “white feminism” and the norm of white, male and heterosexual privilege.

This book presents a framework for addressing intersectionality within educational spaces to combat the cumulative effects of systemic marginalization due to race, gender, disability, class, sexual orientation, and other identity-based labels. Readers can use the framework to consider the impact of identities that individuals adopt or are assigned, move beyond discrete subgroup labels, and fully consider how such markers impact how education policy and research are developed, enacted, and experienced. The text presents examples of existing systems (education, law, medicine, and juvenile justice) as experienced by individuals with intersectional social identities. Each chapter provides an innovative framework that highlights diverse ways of knowing, generating insights that can inform more equitable policy analysis, research, and practice. Book Features: A protocol for applying an intersectionality-based analytic (IBA) approach to education policy, research, and practice.Case study examples of how IBA can be implemented to improve decision making across disciplines and by various stakeholders.Guiding questions that can be used to develop complex research questions and methods that interrupt power differentials within research and policymaking processes. Contributors: Aydin Bal, Aaron Bird Bear, Patrice E. Fenton, Osamudia James, Kristin W. Kibler, Dosun Ko, Amie L. Nielsen, Linda Orie, Leigh Patel, Deborah Perez, Kele Stewart

Like the first reader, this collection examines the grounds which are accepted for inclusion or exclusion of students, and looks at how appropriate support can be guaranteed for people who experience difficulties in learning, who are disabled or who experience social or other kinds of disability. This volume explores national and international contexts for educational practice and research and discusses practical, ethical and political issues which are relevant to undertaking that research. Part one covers issues facing local government and the consumers of educational services in the UK. Part two compares policy and practice in eleven different countries and part 3 discusses research which explores the issues of equality and diversity in education. This volume and her sister, Equality and Diversity in Education 1: Learning, Teaching and Managing in Schools are reraders for the Open University course, "Developing Inclusive Curricula: Equality and Diversity in Education" (E829). The two books in the series will appeal to teachers, non-teaching assistants and other school-based staff,parents,disabled people and those who have experienced difficulties in learning,social and health workers, and those working for voluntary organisations.

Drawing on decades of research, policy, and practice, Jennifer A. O'Day and Marshall S. Smith show how strategies for pursuing educational quality and equal outcomes for all students can be linked, presenting an ambitious idea of the future of American education and a comprehensive theory of change for enacting that vision. The authors argue that systemic causes require systemic solutions. Analyzing the failures of past efforts to address and remedy systemic inequality, O'Day and Smith maintain that our current standards-based policy framework needs to be connected to a continuous improvement approach to build on and scale up successes and to address gaps in outcomes. They emphasize the value of focusing on a small set of high-leverage issues that are particularly salient for underserved students, and they call for deeper coordination between schools and community-based organizations to mobilize a coherent response to in-school and out-of-school inequities. The authors outline a change strategy that incorporates a balance of pressure and support from three sources: government and administrative policy, professional accountability and networking, and collective engagement of parents and other stakeholders. The authors combine discussion of research with examples of promising practices and progress in school systems across the country, and offer opportunities for readers to begin and sustain improvement efforts.

This book offers in-depth analyses of how education interacts with social inequality in Southern contexts. Drawing on a range of disciplinary frameworks, it presents new analyses of existing knowledge and new empirical data which define the challenges and possibilities of successful educational reform. It is a tribute to the work of the late Christopher Colclough, who, as a leading figure in education and international development, played a key role in the global fight for education for all children. The book critically engages with international evidence of educational access, retention and outcomes, offering new understandings of how social inequalities currently facilitate, mediate or restrict educational opportunities. It exposes the continuing influence of wealth and regional inequalities and caste and gendered social structures. Researchers in Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Pakistan and Uganda highlight how the aspirations of families living in poverty remain unfilled by poor-quality education and low economic opportunities and how schools and teachers currently address issues of gender, disability and diversity. The book highlights a range of new priorities for research and identifies some necessary strategies for education reform, policy approaches and school practice, if educational equality for all children is to be achieved. The book will be of great interest to researchers, scholars, educational practitioners and policy-makers in the fields of economics, politics and sociology of education, international education, poverty research and international development. The Foreword, Chapters 1, 6, 7, and 12 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429293467 under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license (Foreword, Chapters 1, 6, and 12) and a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (Chapter 7).