An Unfair Start: Inequality in Children's Education in Rich Countries
2018
This report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) examines educational inequalities in 41 of the world’s richest countries, all of which are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and/or the European Union. The report offers the most recent data available about inequities across childhood, from preschool access to expectations of and participation in post-secondary education. It also explores the relationships between educational inequality and social factors such as parents’ occupations, native language spoken, migration background, gender, and school characteristics. One key feature of the report is the “league table,” which summarizes the extent of inequalities using specific indicators at each education level (i.e. percentage of children enrolled for preschool; gaps in reading scores for primary and secondary grades). It concludes with recommendations that countries can implement to reduce inequalities in education, such as guaranteeing high-quality, affordable, and universal early childhood education; ensuring all children achieve a good minimum level of core skills; reducing the impact of socio-economic inequalities; closing gender gaps in achievement; producing sounder data; and focusing on equality instead of just averages.
An Unfair Start: Inequality in Children's Education in Rich Countries
Source:
An Unfair Start: Inequality in Children’s Education in Rich Countries. United Nations Children’s Fund 2018. https://www.unicef.org/reports/unfair-start.