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Education for All? Measuring inequality of educational outcomes among 15-year-olds across 39 industrialized nations

Author

Listed:
  • Zlata Bruckauf
  • Yekaterina Chzhen
  • UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre

Abstract

Measuring inequality of learning outcomes in a way that provides meaningful benchmarks for national policy while retaining a focus on those students who are ‘hard to reach’ and ‘hard to teach’ is a challenging but vital task in the light of the global post-2015 education agenda. Drawing on PISA 2012 data and its earlier rounds, this paper explores alternative approaches to measuring educational inequality at the ‘bottom-end’ of educational distribution within the cross-national context. Its main aim is to understand how far behind children are allowed to fall in their academic achievement compared to what is considered a standard performance in their country. Under the framework of relative (measured as achievement gap between the median and 10th percentile) and absolute (measured by the percentage of students achieving at a given benchmark) educational disadvantage it examines cross-country rankings as well as national trajectories with reference to overall academic progress. We find that on average across OECD countries around 11% of 15- year-olds lacked skills in solving basic reading, mathematical, as well as science, tasks in 2012, but variation across countries was large.

Suggested Citation

  • Zlata Bruckauf & Yekaterina Chzhen & UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2016. "Education for All? Measuring inequality of educational outcomes among 15-year-olds across 39 industrialized nations," Papers inwopa843, Innocenti Working Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa843
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zlata Bruckauf & UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2016. "Falling Behind: Socio-demographic profiles of educationally disadvantaged youth. Evidence from PISA 2000-2012," Papers inwopa837, Innocenti Working Papers.
    2. Agasisti, Tommaso & Longobardi, Sergio & Prete, Vincenzo & Russo, Felice, 2021. "The relevance of educational poverty in Europe: Determinants and remedies," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 692-709.
    3. Korkmaz, Özge & Erer, Elif & Erer, Deniz, 2022. "Internet access and its role on educational inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5).

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    Keywords

    educational indicators; educational levels; educational planning; inequality; low income families; social inequality;
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