Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome

The report on the findings of extensive empirical research on equality of educational opportunities carried out in the US on a very large sample of public schools by Coleman and his colleagues has had a major impact on education policy and has given rise to a large amount of research and various int...

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Main Author: Zdenko Kodelja
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana 2016-06-01
Series:Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/85
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author Zdenko Kodelja
author_facet Zdenko Kodelja
author_sort Zdenko Kodelja
collection DOAJ
description The report on the findings of extensive empirical research on equality of educational opportunities carried out in the US on a very large sample of public schools by Coleman and his colleagues has had a major impact on education policy and has given rise to a large amount of research and various interpretations. However, as some interpreters have highlighted, even more important than the findings of the survey themselves has been Coleman’s redefinition of equality of opportunity, abandoning the then prevailing conception of equality of educational opportunities as equality of starting points and replacing it with the concept of equality of educational opportunities as equality of educational outcomes. The question is, therefore, whether equality of outcomes really is one of the two types of equality of opportunity. The purpose of the present article is to show that equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes are two different types of equality. If they are different, the interpretation that Coleman has redefined the concept of “equality of educational opportunity” turns out to be incorrect.
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spelling doaj-art-6fde1ea8640e43c0b7dc705eb686e8892025-08-20T02:06:15ZengUniversity of LjubljanaCenter for Educational Policy Studies Journal1855-97192232-26472016-06-0162Equality of Opportunity and Equality of OutcomeZdenko KodeljaThe report on the findings of extensive empirical research on equality of educational opportunities carried out in the US on a very large sample of public schools by Coleman and his colleagues has had a major impact on education policy and has given rise to a large amount of research and various interpretations. However, as some interpreters have highlighted, even more important than the findings of the survey themselves has been Coleman’s redefinition of equality of opportunity, abandoning the then prevailing conception of equality of educational opportunities as equality of starting points and replacing it with the concept of equality of educational opportunities as equality of educational outcomes. The question is, therefore, whether equality of outcomes really is one of the two types of equality of opportunity. The purpose of the present article is to show that equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes are two different types of equality. If they are different, the interpretation that Coleman has redefined the concept of “equality of educational opportunity” turns out to be incorrect.https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/85equality of opportunityequality of outcomeeducationeducation policyjustice
spellingShingle Zdenko Kodelja
Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome
Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
equality of opportunity
equality of outcome
education
education policy
justice
title Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome
title_full Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome
title_fullStr Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome
title_full_unstemmed Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome
title_short Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome
title_sort equality of opportunity and equality of outcome
topic equality of opportunity
equality of outcome
education
education policy
justice
url https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/85
work_keys_str_mv AT zdenkokodelja equalityofopportunityandequalityofoutcome