UNIT 2.

EXPLORING EQUALITY AND EQUITY IN

EDUCATION (Week2)
Activity 2.1 (Guided)
Approx. 30 minutes

1. Jot down a few initial thoughts about what equality in education means
to you.
2. What do you see as the dimensions of equality relevant to your practice?
3. Now think about the context with which you are familiar. This might be
the institution in which you practise or an institution you or a member
of your family attends. What does achieving equity for learners need to
look like in this context? What does it feel like for learners/students,
teachers, you? Spend a few minutes jotting down your thoughts in your
learning journal.
4. In no more than 50 words share some of your thoughts with other
students on your tutor group forum. Are you surprised by any of the
ideas from other students? If you are, what is it that surprises you?
View discussion - Activity 2.1 (Guided)

1. For me, Equality means the ideal of equal access to education.

2. Something that Ive always wondered about is whether or not income inequality was
real. I mean, it sure makes sense that it could exist. But the problem I have with it is that
not everybody is going to have the same situation to start out with . My point of view
about that issue is an how can I do and effective lessons linked with Equality including
Equity? in the school context that I work no cares about the fair selection because all the
students had to do the same activities and the same assessments. From under critical
point of view we can talk about in this case that it is not effective equality terms of
unfair, not justice, everyone must to have the same opportunities to access not creating
inequality in education of people.

3. I would like to start with the Equity Concept in the education context to refer equity
treatment, access, duty, and success in the Education system for everyone without
distinction, ethnic , religion or social condition. In other words Equity in Education is to
do effective for everyone the Fundamental Human Right , in accordance with "The
Universal Declaration Of Human Rights" 1948, Article 26.
From my point of view always I would like to make a real equity into my lessons
however not always I can do it. For instance when the students or learners have to write
down an essay I tried to adapt the essay for my students sometimes I need more time to
prepare, and trying to be realistic we do not have the time to adapt the task for every
single student. In the end whats more I made equity into my lessons but not effective,
in the term of the real Equity.
4. Here I go mates, How can you manage the Equity in your Educational context?, when
we are talking about Equity referring to education, How can you be certain that your
students have the same opportunities? in other words How can you know if this is
happening in your Educational context?

Activity 2.2 (Guided)

Approx. 2 hours

Part A
1. Read the description of competing understandings of equality on pp.
2867 of the article Riddell, S. (2009) Social justice, equality and
inclusion in Scottish education,Discourse: Studies in the Cultural
Politics of Education[Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)],
vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 28396 and the authors analysis of the definition of
an equal society as proposed by the UK Government Cabinet Office.
2.

As you read, make notes in your learning journal on the two broad
approaches and look back at your own ideas in Activity 2.1. Which
approach did your ideas most closely match or did you combine
elements of both?

The notion of equality of opportunity is prevalent in many policy statements, but

has been critiqued for reproducing inequalities in educational outcomes. For
example, in this approach, if boys are encouraged to take textiles courses, then
their educational performance, even if low, is viewed as of little consequence
and little attention is paid to their prior experiences and the understandings
which they bring to the study of the subject. However, to ensure that
disadvantaged students have a fair opportunity of reaching a level of
educational achievement which enriches their lives (and enables them to
contribute to society) equality of outcome then it is argued that it is justifiable

to have inequalities in distribution (Rawls, 1997). For example, recognition of

these students prior experiences and interests might lead to a change in
approach to the teaching of the subject or the provision of additional materials
or teaching. We shall look at some of these different approaches to teaching in
later sections.
Part B
1.

Try to find a public expression of an equality policy or statement for an

institution where you practise or with which you are familiar. If you have
difficulty finding one, you might like to look at the Open Universitys
policy. To what extent do you agree with the interpretation of equality
expressed in the policy/statement you found?

2.

How does it impact on your own practice or drive actions within the
learning environment?

3.

Share ideas with your study partner and comment on each others
interpretation of the policy.

Despite almost universal commitments to equality in education, huge

differences in the opportunities for, and benefits from, learning remain across
the globe. As Wilson and Pickett (2010) comment, with reference to the UK,
Western Europe and North America:
children do better if their parents have higher incomes and more education
themselves, and they do better if they come from homes where they have a
place to study, where there are reference books and newspapers, and where
education is valued.
(Wilson and Pickett, 2010, p. 105)

Part C
1.

2.

If you are not already familiar with current patterns of education

provision and experiences for different groups of learners you should
look at these sets of statistics from theEquality and Human Rights
Commission in the UK or try to find similar sets of statistics for your
country.
Consider the following questions:
o
o

Are patterns of education and achievement as you expected?

Do any of the statistics give you cause for concern? If so, which
ones?
How might you explain the patterns in the statistics?

Is it important to collect such statistics? Why?

Wider structural factors in societies also influence educational inequalities and

these can vary across countries and regions. Your education opportunities
whether at pre-school, school, higher education or in second chance provision
can depend on where you live; there is a spatial dimension to inequality.
Critically, whether you live in an urban or rural setting will influence your
educational experience as will, more widely, the region in which you live.
PART A
1,2. Some of my thoughts match perfectly with the Ridells article, here there go an
extract of the Ridells article which shows social theorist and their point of views about
inequality and unlikely according to your social economic level such us different issues
means that children have not the same opportunities.
'However, social theorists such as Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) have argued that a
certain way of reproducing inequality is to ignore the fact that children do not approach
education from a similar starting point, since, by accident of birth, they have
differential access to a range of economic, social and cultural capitals'.
PART B Equality and Diversity policy
1. I am partially agree with the policy of the place which I used to work; independent
school. In general lines, the text below focus on Equality and Diversity policy.
According to the policy of the School the staff take it seriously and positive feedbacks
for the Equality into the School context, however, in the end just it would not enough,
the value of the Equality does not to be related with just all the members work together
to offer the best Equality education; the concept should be re-formulated or reorientated to provide opportunities independently of your social class or background.
'The relationships between the boarders and the staff is a real strength of the school.
Staff are provided with a high level of training and state that the appraisal process in
place is effective in supporting their professional development within the boarding
sector of the school. The promotion of equality and diversity is outstanding. Boarders
are unanimous in their views that the school makes every effort to recognise their
individual needs and value their differences'.
2.3 An example of the construction of inequality

Activity 2.3 (Guided)

Approx. 1 hour

1. Read Chapter 2 (pp. 619) of Dorlings report Education inequality

across EU regions.
2. As you read, consider:
the factors that influence educational disparities across
regions and nations
mechanisms which might be used to offset the impact of
neighbourhood on educational opportunities. Which of
these do you find most convincing?

1,2. According to Dorlings report (pp. 61-9) Lets focus on this bullet points which
shows disparities in Education.

Material inequalities, this point means all that you need to make sure you have
a ideal conditions e.g Food, sleep, transport access to internet, computers etc.

Educational expectations, desires, and dispositions: It could be resume in

"people like us" the Education sometimes are directly related with not just the
educators this could be a contradiction although expectations plus desires plus
dispositions should be drive a better Education without inequalities; in fact these
reflect carry out disparities.

Social and cultural capital; social networks. Follow these we can talk about
how it is important the system of knowledge and how can create a good support
with better access for the people into the Education system, furthermore how we
could collaborate all members to not create such inequality to access a wellpaying job?.

The privileging, by educational institutions, of some forms of knowledge,

and some ways of knowing and behaving, over others. For my view this point
should be basic, I will see an Education without privileges, looking for the fair
education for everyone regardless of the region or place where you live. when
formulating an educational proposal from privileging point of view we would
make the same mistake creating inequality once more.

The ways that institutions reinforce social divisions as they group students
into classes, subjects and streams, or fail to compensate for material
inequalities, When you have been created an Education context with the same
mechanism during the last decades; it is clear that it should be review the social
divisions into the Education system, because this kind of issues are became a fail
Education or not achieving with poor results and the trend will show a real
inequality.
mechanisms which might be used to offset the impact of neighbourhood on
educational opportunities. Which of these do you find most convincing?.
My thoughts are focus on the privileging by educational institutions. I believe
that the way to offered a equality education might to include not exclude, The
privilege of the education could be an education which all members can be
access to the equal education without being influenced by the social class to
which you belong.

2.4 Inequality In Different Contexts

Activity 2.4 (Guided)

Approx. 4 hours

You will now read three contrasting articles, all of which illuminate aspects of
inequality in education and explore policy, practice and pedagogical considerations in
different contexts rural India, Australia and New Zealand.

Part A
1. Read Orla Kelly and Jacqueline Bhabha (2014) Beyond the
education silo? Tackling adolescent secondary education
in rural India, British Journal of Sociology of Education,
vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 73152.
In this article the authors research the school attendance of adolescent
boys and girls in villages in Gujarat, exploring the reasons for observed
differences in participation in secondary education. It is not important
for you to be familiar with the details of Indian education policy, but as
you read this article you should make notes on the factors which are
identified as restricting girls from benefiting from widened access to
secondary education in this context.
1. You will notice that the authors draw upon the work of R.W. Connell,
particularly on one influential book which stresses the socially
constructed rather than biologically innate views of gender for
example, in relation to class and socio-economic structures in society.
We will explore the ways in which taken-for-granted categories are
socially constructed (for example, teachers assumptions about different
types of learners) later in the module. After you have read the article,
see what you can find out about Connells 1987 book (see the reference
list) and the stance it takes in relation to investigating equality and
gender. Discuss with your study partner how you can find out more
about Connell and her work via the internet, the OU Library, book
reviews etc.
2. Discuss with your study partner what you think are important aspects of
power and sexual politics which have been taken up from Connell into
the Kelly and Bhabha article.

Part B
Read Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. and Teddy, L. (2009) Te Kotahitanga:
addressing educational disparities facing Maori students in New
Zealand, Teaching and Teacher Education, vol. 25, pp. 73442.
This case study from New Zealand describes an initiative designed to improve the
educational outcomes of Maori students in secondary schooling. Again, it is not
necessary to be familiar with the detail of the project. As you read the article you should
note down what is identified as constraining participation in learning for Maori students
and consider:

whether there are other factors involved

what lessons might be taken from this project for other settings,
including perhaps your own practice
what challenges there might be in adopting this approach more widely.

You will notice how the authors of this paper draw on the ideas of Freire in their
arguments; Paulo Freire was an influential educator whose ideas on critical pedagogy
are explored in detail in Section 2. This paper also draws on a number of concepts
which we will interrogate in subsequent sections of this module for example, the use
of narratives and anti-deficit thinking. At this stage you should not spend time
exploring Freires work and these particular concepts and ideas, but it would be helpful
for you to highlight references to them in this particular reading and to make notes on
how they are used. This will enable you to return to this paper later in your studies and
when you are planning your TMAs so you can compare and contrast how Freire uses
the concepts with how other researchers and authors might be using them, defining
them, and/or critiquing their use.

Part C
Read Chapter 18 in the Reader: Fleer, M. Early childhood education as an evolving
community of practice or as lived social reproduction: Researching the taken-forgranted.
In this article, childrens access to early years provision is assumed to be unproblematic
and the focus here is on the educational practices within such settings in Australia and
similar highly resourced environments. The author problematises prevalent pedagogic
approaches and the culturally specific origins of these practices. As you read this article
you might find it helpful to refer back to the interview with Barbara Rogoff (Unit 1,
Activity 1.4). Note down what you perceive to be the notions of equality and/or equity
embedded within the practices described by Fleer. What might be the implications of
her analysis for your own practice or for a learning environment with which you are
familiar?

Part D
1. You should now revisit the views of equality that you noted in Activity
2.1. Is there anything you would like to add to these views?
2. Note down any questions that you would like answered.
3. Compose a short message (max. 100 words) for your tutor group forum
to summarise one thought from your reading this week and one
question that you would like to explore more.

PART A
1. In general lines, I have written down an bullet points, starts with:
India society and the power concept
India has a patriarchal society with gender roles very defined

structures of authority, parental control, responsibilities, obligation based on structure of

power and how the power works when gender roles . The girls cannot complete higher
studies in several cases. India is clearly stratified society with gender barriers and
political power which in practice shows the social difficulties and differences.
1. I find out on internet an interesting review about Connells work, on this link below
you can access to the review about her work. Review: Good teachers on dangerous
ground Connell 2009
https://seced2012.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/review-goodteachers-on-dangerous-ground-connell-2009/
Reference: Connell, Raewyn (2009) Good teachers on dangerous ground: towards a
new view of teacher quality and professionalism Critical Studies in Education, 50 (3),
213-229.
New ideas about good teachers The work of teaching p.221: Good teaching must be
sustainable; and that can only be planned when we see teaching as a practicable labour
processMuch of what happens in the daily life of a school involves the joint labour of
the staff, and the staffs collective relationship to the collective presence of the students
(their social class backgrounds, gender, ethnicity, regional culture, religion; and their
current peer group life, hierarchies and exclusions, bullying, cooperation, and so on).
Much of the learning that school pupils do results from the shared efforts of a group of
staff
Connell, Raewyn and Rebecca Pearse. 2015. Gender: In World Perspective (third
edition). Cambridge, Polity Press. (There is recent work of Connells publishing by
Cambridge, Polity Press, you can find more information about the Authors website, I
would like to suggested take a look on Connells website to understand her theory and
thoughts. http://www.raewynconnell.net/p/gender-sexuality.html
2. Power and Sexual Politics in Connells framework reflects the different levels of
hierarchy and the sex role, in that case there is a real differential between the role of the
man and the role of the woman in the society; we can see the power of coercion. I am
wondering if the first step to minimize the impact of the Power and Sexual Politics
should start in the family environment? What do you think about this point?
e.g. I had an older sister that had to leave school because my parents were tired and she
had to help them. It is her obligation to stay at home to help. (Girl in school, Village C)

Part B
Read Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. and Teddy, L. (2009) Te Kotahitanga:
addressing educational disparities facing Maori students in New
Zealand, Teaching and Teacher Education, vol. 25, pp. 73442.
This case study from New Zealand describes an initiative designed to improve the
educational outcomes of Maori students in secondary schooling. Again, it is not
necessary to be familiar with the detail of the project. As you read the article you should
note down what is identified as constraining participation in learning for Maori students
and consider:

whether there are other factors involved

what lessons might be taken from this project for other settings,
including perhaps your own practice
what challenges there might be in adopting this approach more widely.

You will notice how the authors of this paper draw on the ideas of Freire in their
arguments; Paulo Freire was an influential educator whose ideas on critical pedagogy
are explored in detail in Section 2. This paper also draws on a number of concepts
which we will interrogate in subsequent sections of this module for example, the use
of narratives and anti-deficit thinking. At this stage you should not spend time
exploring Freires work and these particular concepts and ideas, but it would be helpful
for you to highlight references to them in this particular reading and to make notes on
how they are used. This will enable you to return to this paper later in your studies and
when you are planning your TMAs so you can compare and contrast how Freire uses
the concepts with how other researchers and authors might be using them, defining
them, and/or critiquing their use.
2.4 PART B
I will share a number of key points that I extracted Bishops text.
Mori students and issues with the others.
Teachers and Teaching methods with Maori students.
The important of built a good relationship among them.
Effective Teaching Profile means not discriminate Mori students just for the fact
being Mori.
give positive feedbacks and positive learning outcomes.
use different strategies to make effective lessons.
create a good environment for running the lessons and the importance of building good
social relationships.
Response ability, all the teachers have ready to give the best education for them and
create the best experiences for their students into the lessons.
anti-deficit thinking concept.

Part C
Read Chapter 18 in the Reader: Fleer, M. Early childhood education as an evolving
community of practice or as lived social reproduction: Researching the taken-forgranted.
In this article, childrens access to early years provision is assumed to be unproblematic
and the focus here is on the educational practices within such settings in Australia and
similar highly resourced environments. The author problematises prevalent pedagogic
approaches and the culturally specific origins of these practices. As you read this article
you might find it helpful to refer back to the interview with Barbara Rogoff (Unit 1,
Activity 1.4). Note down what you perceive to be the notions of equality and/or equity
embedded within the practices described by Fleer. What might be the implications of
her analysis for your own practice or for a learning environment with which you are
familiar?

2.4 PART C
Fleer, M. Early childhood education as an evolving community of practice or as
lived social reproduction: Researching the taken-for-granted".
According to Fleers the new ways that the education has to be taken. There are four
"taken for granted" key points on which the author's thought settle:
how is the child situated inside of or external to the adult world? the orientation of
children to learning; individual and social orientation; conversations as add-ons or
as part of the adult world'.
As we can see, from now on, Fleer tries tries to bring education a step further, in fact,
the child have to be participate in the adult world. On one hand, The approach makes
the adult child's life could be oriented towards equality however what society really
wants to see is the trend of equity to be effective in school settings, creating a good
environment which the child could grow up without inequality. However on the other
hand I think that Rogoffs theory wants to maintain good lifelong learning requires a
balance between: a good needs assessment, a process of negotiation with the teachers
involved in training and ensure good channels and ensure good coordination, both
horizontally and vertically, therefore, I consider it interesting to put into practice,
introducing significant changes with such knowledge. In addition, we think that the
views of the two authors converge on one point: try to get a society that tends more to
equal opportunities and addressing the needs of people for full development of the
individual within the educational framework, not forgetting the social relations between
them and their interactions.
In the end, what really counts are as fundamental notions of fairness and equality, we
will help create new society without having to think about the great barriers that some
school systems have, the objective is to achieve the greatest possible equity in an
society context.

Activity 2.5 (Guided)

Approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

1. Read the OECD report Equity and Quality in Education:

Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools (2012).
2. You do not need to pay great attention to the tables in the report
(although you might like to consider what exactly they tell you), but as
you read, make notes on:
the way education is conceived
the purposes that it is seen to serve
the way in which inclusion is presented
the sort of data presented to support the arguments
the distinctions made between input and outcome
how success is framed
the location of deficit
the relationship with economic efficiency and political
interest

the way in which civil society and criminality along

with it is presented
assumptions about background characteristics
considerations of the distribution of resources.
3. Discuss your responses with your study partner. How would you
summarise the OECD perspective on education as presented in this
report? What seems to be prioritised and what is not mentioned?
4. Make notes on the ways in which your understanding of social justice,
equity and equality has developed; this will help you prepare for your
first assignment (TMA 01).

2.5
1,2,3,4
Hi guys this is my thoughts about OECD report,
OECD report, when we are talk about education it is impossible don not think about
the failure education system in all the members of the OECD and how can we manage
reducing drop out into the secondary schools mainly?, the report shows that one of the
main objectives for OECD is looking for the best way for tackling that big issue.
The OECD are agree combined Equity with Equality, all the countries members of the
OECD should care with responsibility about fairness Education system, have a less
inequalities which cause the main of disadvantages, countries should take the same
number of opportunities for there is no inequality. In the end, it is matters, try to socio
economic policies without harming the education system , always seeking equality and
equity , justice , and if possible meet the needs of individuals to not have school failure.
Equity as inclusion means make sure that the students can get to achieve a minimum of
the skills for their life to progress into the Education system minimizing school failure.
What do you think about the OECD report mates?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.westminster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/133236/GenderHierarchy-Power-and-Inequality-UoWSLR-Article-Feb-2012.pdf
Orla Kelly and Jacqueline Bhabha (2014) Beyond the education silo? Tackling
adolescent secondary education in rural India, British Journal of
Sociology of Education, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 73152
Connell, R.W. (1987) Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual
Politics, Redwood City, CA, Stanford University Press.
Plan (2014) Because I am a Girl. The state of the worlds girls 2014.
Pathways to Power: Creating sustainable change for adolescent girls.
Plan-International [online]. Available at http://planinternational.org/files/global/publications/campaigns/biaag-full-report-2014-english.pdf
(Accessed 5 May 2015).

Rawls, J. (1997) The idea of public reason revisited, Chicago Law Review, vol.
64, no. 3, pp. 765807.
Schweisfurth, M. (2013) Learner-centred education in international
perspective: whose pedagogy for whose development?, London,
Routledge.
Subrahmanian, R. (2002) Citizenship and the right to education: Perspectives from
the Indian context, IDS Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 110 [online]. Available at
http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/PDF/Outputs/CentreOnCitizenship/1052734659subrahmanian.2002-citizenship.pdf (Accessed 6 May 2015).
Tickly, L. and Barrett, A. (2011) Social justice, capabilities, and the quality of
education in low income countries, International Journal of Education
Development, vol. 31, pp. 314.
UNESCO (2006) The Impact of Women Teachers on Girls Education,
Bangkok, UNESCO.
UNESCO (2008) Education for All Global Monitoring Report, Paris,
UNESCO.
Unterhalter, E. (2007) Gender, Schooling and Global Social Justice, London,
Routledge.
Wilson, R. and Pickett, K. (2010) Why Equality is Better for Everyone, London,
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