Equity - Research Reveals the What, the Where and the How November 21, 2011

Content Setting the Context Students’ World Introducing PISA Equity – the What Equity – the Where Equity – the How

Setting the Context: Policy EmphasisAssumption about Role of Education Theoretical basis Education for All Education changes SocietyDisadvantages are attributes of a family - Individual Quality Education for All Quality with Equity Education Reproduces Society Equity and QualityDisadvantages are attributes of social structures

Student’s World Context of School IMPACTS Context of Family Is this my life? – Disadvantages, more disadvantages, more and more disadvantages…………….

Introducing Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) PISA is a triennial survey of student’s assessment collaboratively conducted through the Organization for economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Purpose of assessment is to evaluate education systems world wide by testing skills and knowledge of 15 year old students The survey covered around year old students in schools of 65 participating countries. The assessment focussed on understanding concepts and applying knowledge to real life. The survey collected information from students (social background information), teachers (educational qualification, experience etc.,), school principals (on structural characteristics of schools, quality of learning environment etc.,)

Equity – The What 2 dimensions of equity in learning outcomes 1. Fairness Dimension / horizontal equity Students’ learning outcomes should not be hindered by factors like socio-economic backgrounds, gender, culture, language, disabilities of students Measured in relative terms : The difference in performance between the high scoring and low scores in a class 2 variations: a) Scores bunched above the midpoint b) Scores bunched below the midpoint

Equity – The What - Second Dimension 2. Inclusion Dimension / Vertical Equity Each student should be able to achieve the minimum basic standard. Measured in absolute terms: A baseline of minimum level is specified and the proportion of students’ whose performance falls at or below the baseline is calculated. There are two levels of the inclusion dimension a) High variance – indicating low levels of equity b) Low variance – indicating high levels of equity

Equity : The Where Variance in Inclusion Academic Variance High Low High Shanghai- China, Korea Indonesia Netherlands, Japan Brazil Blue : Significantly higher than OECD Avg. Black : Significantly lower than OECD Avg Finland, Canada Qatar, Uruguay

Equity : The Where Educational performance and national income do not go together. Countries that share similar levels of GDP do not result in similar learning outcomes. (eg. Shanghai-China has a GDP below the OECD average – but they outperform other countries that have above OECD average GDP) In countries that follow equitable policies the learning outcomes show the following characteristics - a.High outcome for migrant children b.No difference between rural-urban regions c.No gender differences d.Weak relationship with socio-economic backgrounds e.Larger Percentage of students show Resilience

Equity : The How Measures that support Equity Access to similar learning opportunities: Public, Public funded and Private schools; key schools, tuitions Admission Criteria: Neighborhood, comprehensive integrated system, selection on the basis of ability, or money Resource Distribution: equitable or equity- lead Administrative Autonomy (including curricular autonomy) : Centralized or decentralized; teacher autonomy, teacher pay

Measures that do not support equity Inequitable access to learning opportunities – homogeneous group of students in class Growing number of elite schools Selecting students Early streaming of students Tracking of students (particularly in primary grades) High enrollment in disabled schools

Conclusions Equity by inclusion helps to address the socioeconomic disadvantages Fairness can be addressed through changes in classroom practices Inclusion has to be addressed through policy level changes