Science lecture 'Inequality of opportunity'

In this science lecture, Louise Elffers creates order in the conceptual chaos and sets Dutch education standards.
 
The shared pursuit of inequality of opportunity may conceal divergent, sometimes even contradictory, views. How (un)equal are the opportunities here? And what needs to be done to put the ideal of equality of opportunity into practice?
In an unequal society, education is usually seen as 'the great equalizer'. After all, at school all children have the opportunity to develop certain knowledge and skills and to discover and develop their talents, so that their development does not depend solely on what they happen to receive from home.

Louise Elffers shows that education, however, also - and perhaps increasingly - functions as a 'major unequalizer'. Diplomas are playing an increasingly important role in the distribution of income, status and power in our society, while the opportunities for different groups in our society to obtain these diplomas are far from equal.

The increased importance of educational level puts pressure on students, parents and schools. While the pedagogical task requires parents and school to work together to ensure that the child is guided as best as possible in his or her development, the pursuit of the highest possible level of education sometimes pits parents and schools against each other. How do we bring the pedagogical and selective tasks back into balance in the pursuit of equality of opportunity?

Louise Elffers is a special professor of Equality of Opportunity in Education at the University of Amsterdam and a lecturer in Promising School Careers at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.