The future of education equity policy in a COVID-19 world: a qualitative systematic review of lessons from education policymaking

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 had a major global impact on education, prompting concerns about its unequal effects and some impetus to reboot equity strategies. Yet, policy processes exhibit major gaps between such expectations and outcomes, and similar inequalities endured for decades before the pandemic. Our objective is to establish how education researchers, drawing on policy concepts and theories, explain and seek to address this problem. Methods: A qualitative systematic review (2020-21), to identify peer reviewed research and commentary articles on education, equity, and policymaking, in specialist and general databases (ERIC, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane/ Social Systems Evidence). We did not apply additional quality measures. We used an immersive and inductive approach to identify key themes. We use these texts to produce a general narrative and explore how policy theory articles inform it. Results: 140 texts (109 articles included; 31 texts snowballed) provide a non-trivial reference to policymaking. Limiting inclusion to English-language produced a bias towards Global North articles. Our comparison with a review of health equity research highlights distinctive elements in education. First, education equity is ambiguous and contested, with no settled global definition or agenda (although some countries and international organisations have disproportionate influence). Second, researchers critique ‘neoliberal’ approaches that dominate policymaking at the expense of ‘social justice’. Third, more studies provide ‘bottom-up’ analysis of ‘implementation gaps’. Fourth, more studies relate inequity to ineffective policymaking to address marginalised groups. Conclusions: Few studies use policy theories to explain policymaking, but there is an education-specific literature performing a similar role. Compared to health research, there is more use of critical policy analysis to reflect on power and less focus on technical design issues. There is high certainty that current neoliberal policies are failing, but low certainty about how to challenge them successfully.

The Tricky Concept of ‘Educational Equity’ – In Search of Conceptual Clarity

“…International bodies such as the oecd began to use the term equity within their education policy work in the 1990s (Levin, 2003;Samoff, 1996;Savage et al, 2013;Thomson, 2013). Concurrently, these organisations have increased their influence over national education policy (Cairney & Kippin, 2021;Mundy & Ghali, 2009). This is likely to have contributed to the increased use of the term equity within national education policy -as many countries now claim that their education policies are informed by this principle (Cairney & Kippin, 2021).…”

“…Several researchers have documented these issues within the literature. For instance, Cairney and Kippin (2021) highlight that equity is a slippery and contested term within education policy research, based on their literature review of 109 articles focused on education policy and equity. Therefore, much of the large literature on 'educational equity' is often unhelpful in defining what it means.…”

“…Such organisations have used 'equity' to refer to longstanding international development goals such as access to universal primary education (Farrell, 2012;Klees & Qargha, 2014). Individual countries have also used 'equity' to describe policy activity that is focused on educational access (Cairney & Kippin, 2021). For instance, state-level education policy documents in the United States use access as one of the most common interpretations of 'equity' (Chu, 2019).…”

“…In developed countries, policymakers tend to use 'equity' to refer to access and progression within the secondary and tertiary stages of education (Farrell, 2012;Klees & Qargha, 2014). Policymakers have also interpreted educational 'equity' in relation to opportunities, with this understanding being particularly evident in the work of international organisations, such as unicef and the oecd (Cairney & Kippin, 2021;Klees & Qargha, 2014). For instance, the oecd (2012, p. 9) states that in equitable education systems:…”

Education and New Developments 2022 – Volume I

“…Globally, postsecondary institutions and governments are taking various legislative actions to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, including regulating teaching activities (Zhang, 2022). Arguably, in this regard there are ambiguity and disputes regarding curriculum practice and teaching methods, student readiness, teacher workload, and the equity of the education environment (Cairney & Kippin, 2022). As the spread and rate of infection continued to increase, human existence as we know it was threatened (Plümper & Neumayer, 2022).…”