Despite the important role played by examinations in educational stratification and mobility in China, to our knowledge there is no literature in English that investigates the impact of exams on educational attainment with empirical data. We address this gap with an investigation of how examinations shape opportunities for children of the rural…

The present challenge for educationists and economists is to resolve pressing problems inherent in social choice and the technical framework of education. Among these challenges is the conflict between means and ends of educational production, the reliable development of human capital, and resolution to problems of social inequality. The authors…

The enquiries into police action in the Stephen Lawrence murder, the Macpherson report and the subsequent race relations legislation have altered the political, professional and wider social climate of debate on equality issues, including inequalities in minority ethnic exclusions. The paper analyses the meanings given to racism and institutional…

The proposed development of extended schools in England is part of an international movement towards community-oriented schooling, particularly in areas of disadvantage. Although on the face of it this movement seems like a common-sense approach to self-evident needs, the evaluation evidence on such schools is inconclusive. In order to assess the…

A critical review and contrast of four books dealing with the theme of educational equality: Jencks, C. et al, "Inequality;" Eysenck, H.J., "The Inequality of Man"; Jensen, A.R. "Educational Differences"; and Kopan, A. and Walberg, H. (Eds.) "Rethinking Educational Equality". (EH)

Development literature suggests that private schools serving the poor are not part of the solution to meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education. The study conducted a census and survey of schools in notified slums of Hyderabad, India, to contribute to the sparse literature on the nature and extent of private…

From a philosophical vantage point, the utility of the concepts of equality and justice is assessed in two particular areas; the claim that everyone has an equal right to an equal opportunity for education and the claim for equality between different participants (teachers, pupils) in the educational process itself. (EH)

It is argued that the mainstream of the theory on which the policy of equal educational opportunity is based has its origins in the nineteenth, as well as the twentieth, century. (Author/KM)

A few of the interactive effects between schooling and patterns of options in life before and after experience in schooling are singled out for comment in their relation to education in economic terms. (Author/KM)

Expanding on his definition of equality of educational opportunity, James Coleman suggests that it is important to connote the fact that the schools' task is to reduce the unequalizing impact of students' home and school environments. (Author/KM)

It is concluded that equality of endowment is a myth and that equality of opportunity presents a more realistic ideal to follow. (Author/KM)

Some of the key problems of educational equality -- equality of opportunities and inequality of performance; individual differences vs. group differences, coping with group inequality -- are made explicit. (Author/KM)

This paper argues that examinations have a complex role in creating and defining gender differences in performance in public examinations. To illustrate this argument three aspects of examining are reviewed: styles of examinations and how they define achievement; coursework and the role it plays in contributing to gender differences in…

The impact of poverty and dispossesion is investigated, describing the manner in which social and cultural background affects upbringing and thereby affects intellectual functioning. (Author/KM)

In an effort to share American thinking on the topic of voucher plans with British educationists, this article summarizes and explains the educational experiments in America and opens up issues which were uncovered in the process. (Author)