Educational inequalities

Although a number of policies tackling educational inequalities have been introduced in recent decades in Europe, educational inequalities exist to a varying extent of contexts.

The publication "PIONEERED: Elaborating the link between social and educational policies for tackling educational inequalities in Europe" makes a link between social and educational policies with respect to educational inequalities. Educational policies aim to guarantee opportunities throughout educational trajectories and beyond. They pertain to all areas and the entire duration of the human life. This contribution to socialpolicy.ch introduces the ongoing Horizon 2020 project PIONEERED on educational inequalities by elaborating on the social problems behind those disparities, and by outlining the project’s conceptual and methodological approaches that join together multilevel, intersectional and life-course perspectives.

About the PIONEERED project

Why educational systems expanded throughout Europe in some countries faster than in other countries ? Educational inequalities in terms of systematic advantages and disadvantages in educational attainment structured by individual characteristics such as social origin, immigrant background or gender could not be entirely abolished. Although the inequalities have been reduced, disadvantages for certain groups persist in the education system (e.g. among the working class), and new disadvantages occur (e.g. male students). Educational inequalities go along with consequences at the individual and societal level. 

It is important to study how educational inequalities can be reduced to the benefit of both individuals, groups and the society. Societal understanding of the value of education for individual and collective growth advanced substantially and resulted in policy efforts to improve both the quality and access to education across Europe. The overall idea of the project is to provide evidence-based policy tools, specific to various stages of education and target groups that help overcoming barriers in access to education among the vulnerable.