Governments and education policy makers are increasingly concerned with equity and inclusion in education due to several major global trends such as demographic shifts, migration and refugee crises, rising inequalities, and climate change. These developments have contributed to increasing diversity and warrant an examination of the impact of diversity on equity and inclusion in education.

Governments and education policy makers are increasingly concerned with equity and inclusion in education due to several major global developments such as demographic shifts, migration and refugee crises, rising inequalities, and climate change. These developments have contributed to increasing diversity and warrant an examination of its impact on equity and inclusion in education.

This chapter introduces a conceptualisation of the main themes in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion, and reflects on the external contexts that affect them. It also presents a holistic framework on how governments and schools can address diversity, equity and inclusion. It further looks at its various components, such as governance, resourcing, capacity building, school-level interventions, and monitoring and evaluation. This framework guides the subsequent chapters of this report. In addition, the chapter discusses how more equitable and inclusive education settings can have broader implications not only for students but also for societies as a whole.

This chapter examines the governance and design of equity and inclusion in education systems. Specifically, it explores how educational goals, curricula, regulatory frameworks, responsibilities and administration, diversity of the educational offering, learning environments, as well as school choice and student selection policies respond to diversity in education and influence on equity and inclusion objectives. The chapter ends by highlighting policy pointers for addressing diversity in education and improving equity and inclusion of diverse groups in the governance and design of education systems.

This chapter examines the resourcing of education systems to foster equity and inclusion in education systems. Specifically, it discusses the role of main allocation mechanisms and targeted distribution of resources in supporting equity and inclusion goals, and how countries can best leverage them to this end. Then, it discusses in greater depth the different forms of targeted resources that can be employed by education systems to support a diverse student population, reflecting on the different goals and uses of financial resources, in-kind service provisions, physical resources and human resources. The chapter ends by highlighting policy pointers for embedding equity and inclusion goals in the resourcing of education systems.

This chapter discusses how education systems can develop capacity to respond to diverse student needs and create a system in which school staff, students, parents, guardians and members of the broader community all share and support the will to foster equity and inclusion. It discusses the importance of preparing teachers to address diversity and promote equity and inclusion, and of recruiting and retaining teachers from diverse backgrounds. This chapter also considers capacity building in terms of cultivating values of acceptance, tolerance and respect among students. Finally, it discusses the importance of building awareness among parents, students, teachers and communities more broadly, as a key step in ensuring that the different stakeholders of a given system are on board with and collaborate for advancing equity and inclusion in education.

This chapter explores how different interventions at the school level can be leveraged to advance equity and inclusion in education, and support all students in the classroom. The Strength through Diversity project has identified five broad categories of school-level interventions: (i) matching resources within schools to students’ learning needs; (ii) school climate; (iii) learning strategies to address diversity; (iv) non-instructional support and services; and (v) engagement with parents and the community. This chapter discusses each of these categories in turn, before concluding by setting out some pointers for policy development.

This chapter analyses the fundamental role that monitoring and evaluation can play in ensuring the continuous improvement and the effectiveness of policies targeted at addressing diversity in education and improving equity and inclusion in education systems. Specifically, this chapter focuses on monitoring equity and inclusion in education, evaluating policies and practices to address diversity, and promoting equity and inclusion at the system, local and school levels. The chapter concludes by proposing policy pointers for approaches to monitoring and evaluation that promote equity and inclusion in education.

This chapter provides some conclusions and particularly discusses six key steps that are universally relevant for education systems striving towards equity and inclusion. These include developing a framework on equity and inclusion and embedding it in all areas of education policy; ensuring that the education system is flexible and responsive to the needs of students; including equity and inclusion as principles of both the main resource allocation mechanisms and targeted funding of the education system; engaging all relevant stakeholders in implementing the policy framework in schools and classrooms and strengthening coordination; preparing and supporting teachers and school leaders in developing the competences and knowledge areas for promoting equity and inclusion; and identifying students’ needs, supporting them and monitoring their progress.