Educational Research And Innovation Educational Opportunity For All Overcoming Inequality Throughout The Life Course

Equitable educational opportunities can help to promote long-lasting, inclusive economic growth and social cohesion. Successful education and skills policies can empower individuals to reach their full potential and enjoy the fruits of their labour, regardless of their circumstances at birth.

Equitable educational opportunities can help to promote long-lasting, inclusive economic growth and social cohesion. Successful education and skills policies can empower individuals to reach their full potential and enjoy the fruits of their labour, regardless of their circumstances at birth.

Equitable educational opportunities can help to promote long-lasting, inclusive economic growth and social cohesion. Successful education and skills policies can empower individuals to reach their full potential and enjoy the fruits of their labour, regardless of their circumstances at birth. However, as this report shows, far too many children, students and adults from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds fall behind. In many countries, substantial learning gaps exist between students at opposite ends of the socio-economic scale, and these differences tend to increase in the transition into adulthood. All countries have ample room for improvement to ensure better learning outcomes for all. Early childhood education has been identified as an important element in future success, and requires investment, as do family and community-based support and programmes for children from families that have not attained a high level of education and skills. In the schools, targeted support is necessary for low performers from disadvantaged backgrounds and for poorly performing schools. As for the adult population, learning should be focused on improving employability, through a combination of education and practical job training. Barriers to participation in learning need to be removed, and delivery methods need to be more innovative and flexible. Targeted support is needed for the most vulnerable members of society.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a forceful reminder that education plays an important role in delivering not just academic learning, but also in supporting physical and emotional well-being. Balancing traditional “book learning” with broader social and personal development means new roles for schools and education more generally.

This book highlights new scientific research about how people learn, including interdisciplinary perspectives from neuroscience, the social, cognitive and behavioural sciences, education, computer and information sciences, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and engineering.

This open access book examines how families and other social institutions interact to shape outcomes over the life course. It considers how to use research evidence to reduce social disadvantage through translation of evidence to support public policies and programs. The chapters focus on key life course stages such as early child development, adolescence, emerging adulthood, parenting, marriage, relationships and ageing, as well as examining experiences and outcomes for selected social groups such as Indigenous children, migrants and refugees, and gay, lesbian and bisexual groups. The book presents evidence using high-quality and recent data. With a focus on Australia, the volume provides new insights into how context shapes life course pathways and outcomes and a contrast to work that typically focuses on Europe and the United States. It will be of value to anyone interested in understanding how family background and life course pathways influence social disadvantage.

Governments and education policy makers are increasingly concerned with equity and inclusion in education due to several major global trends such as demographic shifts, migration and refugee crises, rising inequalities, and climate change. These developments have contributed to increasing diversity within national populations and flagged some concerns around the ability of education systems to be equitable and inclusive of all students.

In times of growing economic inequality, improving equity in education becomes more urgent. While some countries and economies that participate in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have managed to build education systems where socio-economic status makes less of a ...