OAFP 2025 - Educational inequality and education policy

Receiving an adequate level of education can be seen as a fundamental social right. Yet, the extent and ways in which education is provided vary substantially across countries, social groups, and over-time. This course is designed to introduce students to the study of educational inequality and education policy. We begin the course by reviewing the main goals, achievements and outstanding challenges in education policy in the early 21st century. Specifically, we will take a historical perspective to review the significant progress made with respect to providing education to large parts of the world’s population and with respect to reducing gender inequality in educational attainment. We will then turn to one key policy challenge of the early 21st century—reducing the inequalities in educational attainment between individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds. We will discuss normative arguments for why we may care to understand and address inequality of educational opportunity. Moreover, we will examine the social mechanisms that account for educational inequalities between individuals from different social backgrounds and discuss whether and how policies and social interventions can reduce these educational inequalities. The structure of the course follows the early life-course and educational trajectory of individuals to critically examine educational policies on early childhood education, the notion of ‘social investment’, ability tracking at the secondary level, the function of school autonomy, the effectiveness of education policy to equalize access to elite institutions, the role of large crises — such as the COVID-19 pandemic — in exacerbating existing inequalities, and how education policy can protect children’s learning in the face of such crises.

Course participants should fulfil the following prerequisites:

Basic ability to interpret research results presented in graphs, figures, or tables

Willingness to read 2-3 short key readings ahead of each course session

Readiness to actively participate in course discussions

Ability to work in small groups on different activities, incl. preparing group presentations.

Please note that you can enrol in EITHER this course OR the course entitled ‘Social inequality across the Life Course’ in the Common Academic Curriculum / Formation Académique Commune, but not in both courses (also not in different years).

The course will draw on a combination of online tools. Most course materials will be available via google drive.

The final grade will consist of the following main elements: Course participation (10%), group presentation (10%), exam (40%), policy brief (40%).

For this course, participants are expected to:

Read 2-3 short readings in preparation for each seminar session, which serve a as a basis for the in-class discussion and activities

Actively participate in class discussions

Continuously work throughout the semester on researching and writing the policy brief, including providing and receiving feedback on drafts from peers

Collaborate with their group members to prepare an engaging presentation