What is equality of opportunity in education?

Lazenby, H. (2016) What is equality of opportunity in education? Theory and Research in Education, 14(1), pp. 65-76. (doi: 10.1177/1477878515619788)

Abstract

There is widespread disagreement about what equality of opportunity in education requires. For some it is that each child is legally permitted to go to school. For others it is that each child receives the same educational resources. Further interpretations abound. This fact presents a problem: when politicians or academics claim they are in favour of equality of opportunity in education, it is unclear what they mean and debate is hindered by mutual misunderstanding. In this article, I introduce a framework to ameliorate this problem. More specifically, I develop an important but neglected framework for the concept of equality of opportunity and apply it to examine particular conceptions of equality of opportunity in education. In doing this, I hope to produce a piece of applied conceptual analysis that can both help clarify existing positions within the equality of opportunity in education debate and allow those seeking to produce new positions to express them more clearly.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funded by the Spencer Foundation.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Lazenby, Dr Hugh
• Authors: Lazenby, H.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy
• Journal Name: Theory and Research in Education
• Publisher: SAGE
• ISSN: 1477-8785
• ISSN (Online): 1741-3192
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Author
• First Published: First published in Theory and Research in Education 14(1):65-76