The long and short views of equity in education: Steady progress or “whack-a-mole”?

Abstract

Arguably, the greatest flaw of Western culture is its individualism: the burning desire of each person to leave their indelible mark. Yet this same factor, probably more than any other, has also fuelled exploration, innovation and technological progress. It might best be described as a form of myopia, an over-identification with the achievements and failures of the present. Whereas the Native American Iroquois people famously sought to consider in all major decisions the impact their actions would have on seven future generations, the most powerful decision makers of today rarely look beyond the next election, or even the next quarterly report. There is a risk of allowing a similar myopia to obscure our vision for education and learning. Governments are notoriously fond of five-year plans, just as international organisations such as the United Nations are attached to their fifteen-year targets. We have just reached the end of one such cycle – the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). What was launched with a bang was retired with a whimper, despite the fact that many of the results are rather impressive (albeit falling short of the highly ambitious targets). The progress made in relation to the first element of the educational target – universal primary enrolment – has been quite astonishing, especially in Africa, where need was (and remains) greatest. The most recent Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report states that ‘‘primary adjusted net enrolment ratios improved significantly, rising at least 20 percentage points from 1999 to 2012 in 17 countries, 11 of which were from sub-Saharan Africa’’ (UNESCO 2015, p. 75). Even if we allow that much remains to be done, a 20 per cent increase in just 13 years in a region with so many political and economic challenges is quite remarkable. The authors of our first article in this issue – Benedicte Gastineau, Norbert Kpadonou, Valerie Delaunay, Eve Senan Assogba and Josette Gnele – acknowledge