EQUITY WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION EDUCATION SYSTEMS: A STUDY BASED ON PISA 2015

Resumo

Equity in education has recently become a hot topic for international debate and it has gained much interest in the Netherlands as well the last years. In this study, we evaluate and compare equity across the educational systems of European Union member states with a focus on the Dutch context by using PISA 2015 data. PISA 2015 considers inclusive education and fairness as important aspects of equity. Inclusive education is reflected in the segment of students that are 15 years of age and are still in school as well as those students who obtain a basic level to function well in society. Fairness relates to how well countries manage to achieve education outcomes independent of the background characteristics of students. EU countries are compared with one another on these categories using effect sizes derived from differences in PISA scores in science, reading and mathematics. Particular attention is paid to equity results in the Netherlands. Although there is still room for improvement, for many aspects of equity, the Dutch education system scores well when compared to other EU countries.