Educational Roulette – Mind the Gap

I stumbled upon this infographic this week. I’ve edited it to suit the layout of my blog.

It shows the inequities in educational outcomes between groups of higher and lower socioeconomic standing, across a number of countries.

In short, your educational achievement can be predicted at birth based on little more than your parents’ bank balance.

Of course,  there will always be exceptions at all points on the spectrum, but education boils down to luck. A game of Roulette.

In Australia, these inequities were highlighted in the Gonski Report and its recommendations aim (in part) to address them.

Last week I wrote on the ABC that I believe that government approaches to education reform really do miss the point.

This infographic only serves to reinforce my opinion.

How increasing class sizes, paying the top 10% of teachers more money and cutting teachers’ preparation time will help to close this educational gap is well beyond my grasp of education and pedagogy.

By clicking on the infographic below, you’ll view it in its original format, complete with sources.