The paper examines interpretations of educational development in western Europe since the 1960s and suggests that equality of opportunity has been the most pervasive theme underlying educational policy and development. Most often used to describe educational development are (1) demographic and economic data, (2) analyses of structural changes in the educational system, and (3) evaluation of the changing role of education vis-a-vis the social system generally. None of the descriptions has the historical perspective to convey the extent or the true nature of educational change which has resulted from the substitution of public education for the church as the principal transmitter of values and beliefs. A better measure of educational development is the value change reflected in public policy. A major result of the policy shift toward public education rather than religious education has been an increase in equality of opportunity. Three interpretations of equality of opportunity presently prevail in European nations: (1) predestinative (division of secondary schools into vocational and college preparatory); (2) redemptive (equal life chances for all students, regardless of academic ability); and (3) dissenting (alternative schools, lifelong education, and individual curriculum). The conclusion is that educational development must be understood as a combination of past and present values and that educational systems must cease to be, or to be considered, purveyors of a particular orthodoxy. (Author/DB)