Have we given up?

The issue of social inequality has been pushed well into the background in the last 15 years, both in the political discourse and in education research. There has been a clear shift of emphasis from equality of opportunity to the performance of the education system, in terms of both efficiency and labour market demands. Have we given up the ideal of achieving greater equality in education?

The observed shift in the policy debate may be linked to the generally weak position of school leavers in the labour market. Mass unemployment hits this group harder than other groups, because they are newcomers and still have to secure their first job. Early school leavers are not the only ones to have problems here: graduates of secondary and higher education also face difficulties.

Many observers interpret these high levels of unemployment as evidence of the inadequate quality of the education system itself. Schools, they argue, do not keep pace with the demands of the labour market, and turn out ‘uneducated’ young people, despite the fact that these students have spent between 10 and 15 years at school.

In addition, there is budgetary pressure to cut costs; this has led to calls for greater efficiency in education, as in other fields. Schools have to become more effective, and this effectiveness is usually measured in terms of average pupil achievement. This approach has obscured the inequality of that achievement among pupils.

Although social inequality – and more particularly social exclusion – has re-emerged as an issue in the European education literature as well as the policy debate (boosted by the shift towards social democracy in several member states), it is still often confined to issues of a ‘lack of education’ on the part of certain groups in preparation for the labour market. Arguably, like all regions in the world, the European Union is challenged by a continuously changing economic and technological environment. Adapting to new markets, new technologies, and new realities implies a need for new productive roles for individuals. Young people who are not prepared for those changes are regarded as being particularly at risk of being excluded in the future.