The first fully comparative empirical analysis of the relationship between education and social cohesion, this book develops a new 'distributional theory' of the effects of educational inequality on social solidarity. Based on extensive analysis of data on inequality and social attitudes for over 25 developed countries.
This monograph analyses and describes successful educational actions with a specific focus on vulnerable groups (i.e. youth, migrants, cultural groups e.g. Roma, women, and people with disabilities). Concrete data that shows success in school performance in subject matters such as math or language will be provided, as well as children, teachers and families accounts of the impact of this success. Alongside, there is an analysis of the relationship between these children’s educational performance with their inclusion or exclusion from different areas of society (i.e. housing, health, employment, and social and political participation). Many studies have already diagnosed and described the causes of educational and social exclusion of these vulnerable groups. This monograph, however, provides solutions, that is, actions for success identified through the INCLUD-ED project, thus providing both, contrasted data and solid theoretical background and development. Some examples of these actions are interactive groups (or heterogeneous grouping in the classroom with reorganisation of human resources), extension of the learning time, homework clubs, tutored libraries, family and community educative participation, family education, or dialogic literary gatherings. All these actions have been defined as successful educational actions, which mean that they lead to both efficiency and equity. Finally, recommendations for policy and practice are included and discussed.
This book addresses current debates in the field of social cohesion. It examines the ethics and policy making of social cohesion and explores various means for promoting social cohesion including history education, citizenship education, language, human rights based teacher training and school partnerships.
This volume has three foci - the rationale for considering how aspects of education can affect social cohesion; case studies that review particular country experiences with curricula and textbooks; and practical guidelines and applications to help countries improve areas of education.
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 difference to students' learning and well-being, every country can do more. Equity in Education: Breaking Down Barriers to Social Mobility shows that high performance and more positive attitudes towards schooling among disadvantaged 15-year-old students are strong predictors of success in higher education and work later on. The report examines how equity in education has evolved over several cycles of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). It identifies the policies and practices that can help disadvantaged students succeed academically and feel more engaged at school. Using longitudinal data from five countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, and the United States), the report also describes the links between a student's performance near the end of compulsory education and upward social mobility - i.e. attaining a higher level of education or working in a higher-status job than one's parents.
This book examines the consequences of educational segregation from the perspective of social cohesion. It investigates the impact of separating students along socioeconomic lines on student attitudes, dispositions and outlooks considered important for social cohesion as well as on achievement, opening the discussion about the social costs of school segregation. The separation of students based on their social background is a common feature of schooling in many modern systems. This is not only due to the influence of residential segregation but also to the effects of policies promoting educational privatisation, parental choice and student academic selection. By recognising the importance of schooling for citizenship and social integration, the chapters in this book explore how the separation of students throughout their school lives can contribute to the division of citizens beyond school, and how social segregation in school systems affect social cohesion more broadly. By exploring the case of Santiago, Chile, the study is a timely contribution to the understanding of the roots of social division and the role that schools play in creating cohesive societies. The originality of the approach and the evidence presented draw on implications that should be of interest to a wider audience concerned with contemporary discussions on solidarity and its erosion by educational segregation in urban environments.
Social mobility is linked to social cohesion in a number of complex ways. In essence it concerns social fairness and is a measure of how equal economic opportunities or life chances are, and how a society transforms principles of equal opportunity into reality. Intergenerational mobility of income or socio-economic status demonstrates the real extent to which equality exists in a society. A more cohesive society is one where people are not divided on socio-economic or other grounds, citizens accept that the division of rewards is fair and everyone has equal starting points in life. This study examines the factors influencing social mobility and policies which might be put in place to facilitate it, in particular those concerning welfare services, child care, the education system, career structures and labour-market services.