The Power of Circumstance a New Approach to Measuring Educational Inequality
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CENTER FOR UNIVERSAL EDUCATION WORKING PAPER 5 | JANUARY 2012 Center for Universal Education at BROOKINGS THE POWER OF CIRCUMSTANCE A NEW APPROACH TO MEASURING EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY Kevin Watkins Center for Universal Education at BROOKINGS Kevin Watkins is a nonresident senior fellow with the Center for Universal Education. CONTENTS Introduction . 1 Deprivation and Marginalization in Education Indicator . 3 Patterns of Disadvantage in Education . 7 Conclusion . 14 References . 15 Endnotes . 17 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Scale of Disadvantage: The Shares of the Population aged 17–22 with Less than Four Years and Less than Two Years in School . 6 Figure 2: Nigeria’s Inequality Tree: Patterns of Disadvantage in Education . 8 Figure 3: Unequal Opportunity in Turkey . 9 Figure 4: Education Poverty for Pastoralists in Selected Countries . 10 Figure 5: Armed Conflict and Inequality in Education: Evidence from North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo . 11 Figure 6: Regional Disparities in Education . 13 THE POWER OF CIRCUMSTANCE A NEW APPROACH TO MEASURING EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY Kevin Watkins INTRODUCTION for improving health, literacy, political participation and other areas. Education is one of the most basic n recent years, there has been a resurgence of building blocks for the “real freedoms” that Sen de- Iinterest in the issue of inequality. Part of this resur- scribes. People denied the chance to develop their gence can be traced to new evidence of persistent potential through education face diminished pros- and widening wealth gaps. Average incomes may pects and more limited opportunities in areas rang- be converging globally as a result of high growth in ing from health and nutrition, to employment, and emerging markets, stronger growth in many poor participation in political processes. In other words, countries, and slow growth in rich countries. However, disparities in education are powerfully connected to the evidence also shows that within countries a paral- wider disparities, including international and intra- lel process of income divergence, marginalization and country income inequalities. This is why education rising inequality is also taking place (Milanović, 2005, has been identified as one of the most critical fac- 2011). Put differently, the rising tide of global prosper- tors in breaking down the disadvantages and so- ity is not lifting all boats. cial inequalities that are limiting progress toward the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals Much of the international debate on inequality fo- (MDGs)—development targets adopted by the inter- cuses on the distribution of income across and within national community for 2015. countries. Other dimensions of inequality have re- ceived less attention. This is unfortunate. Amartya Understanding patterns of educational inequality is Sen has described development as “a process of critical at many levels. Ethical considerations are of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy” by paramount importance. Most people would accept building human capabilities or their capacity to lead that children’s educational achievements should the kind of life they value (Sen, 1999, p. 3). Income not be dictated by the wealth of their parents, their is a means to that end but it is a limited indicator of gender, their race or their ethnicity. Disparities in well-being. Moreover, a person’s income reflects educational opportunities are not just inequalities not just personal choice but also their opportunities in a technical sense, they are also fundamental in- THE POWER OF CIRCUMSTANCE: A NEW APPROACH TO MEASURING EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY 1 equities—they are unjust and unfair. They are also ing in developing a skilled workforce. Countries in fundamental inequities—they are unjust and unfair. which large sections of the population are denied In an influential paper, John Roemer differentiated a quality education because of factors linked to po- between inequalities that reflect factors such as luck, tential wealth, gender, ethnicity, language and other effort and reasonable reward, and those attribut- markers for disadvantage are not just limiting a fun- able to circumstances that limit opportunity (Roemer damental human right. They are also wasting a pro- 1988).1 While the dividing line may often be blurred, ductive resource and undermining or weakening the that distinction has an intuitive appeal. Most people human capital of the economy. have a high level of aversion to the restrictions on what people—especially children—are able to International development commitments provide an- achieve as a result of disparities and inherited disad- other rationale for equalizing educational opportuni- vantages that limit access to education, nutrition or ties. This is for two reasons. First, the commitments health care (Wagstaff, 2002). There is a wide body envisage education for all and achievement of uni- of opinion across political science, philosophy and versal primary education by 2015. Second, there is economics that equal opportunity—as distinct from mounting evidence that inequality is acting as a brake equality of outcomes—is a benchmark of egalitar- on progress toward the 2015 goals. Since around ian social justice. The theories of distributive justice 2005, the rate of decline in the out-of-school popula- associated with thinkers such as Amartya Sen, John tion has slowed dramatically. Based on current trends, Rawls, Ronald Dworkin and John Roemer argue, ad- there may be more children out of school in 2015 than mittedly from very different perspectives, that public there were in 2009. Caution has to be exercised in in- policy should aim at equalizing opportunity to coun- terpreting short-run trends, especially given the weak- teract disadvantages associated with exogenous cir- ness of data. However, the past three editions of the cumstances over which individuals or social groups UNESCO Education for All Global Monitoring Report have no control. Given the role of education as a (GMR) have highlighted the role of inequality in con- potential leveler of opportunity, it is a national focal tributing to the slowdown with governments struggling point for redistributive social justice. to reach populations that face deeply entrenched dis- advantages (UNESCO, 2008, 2010, 2011). Therefore, Considerations of economic efficiency reinforce the picking up the pace toward the 2015 goals requires a ethical case for equalizing educational opportuni- strengthened focus on equity and strategies that tar- ties. Education is a powerful driver of productivity, get the most marginalized groups and regions of the economic growth, and innovation. Econometric mod- world (Sumner and Tiwari, 2010; UN-DESA, 2009; eling for both rich and poor countries suggests that UNESCO, 2010).2 It should be added that disparities in an increase in learning achievement (as measured education relate not just to access, but also to learning by test score data) of one standard deviation is as- achievement levels. sociated on average with an increase in the long-run growth rate of around 2 percent per capita annually Accelerated progress in education would generate wider (Hanushek and Wößmann, 2010; Hanushek, 2009; benefits for the MDGs. Most of the world’s poorest coun- Hanushek and Wößmann, 2008). Such evidence tries are off-track for the 2015 MDG target of halving in- points to the critical role of education and learn- come poverty and a long way from reaching the targets 2 GLOBAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM on child survival, maternal health and nutrition. Changing on schools reported through governments to the this picture will require policy interventions at many levels. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) provide a However, there is overwhelming evidence showing that great deal of valuable statistical information on at- education—especially of young girls and women—can tainment levels. The widely used Barro and Lee da- act as a potent catalyst for change. On one estimate, if all tabase, which now covers 147 countries, uses mean of sub-Saharan Africa’s mothers attained at least some years of schooling to measure human capital stock secondary education, there would be 1.8 million fewer across countries (Barro and Lee, 2010a, 2010b). child deaths in the region each year. Thus while educa- This is one of the component parts of the compos- tion may lack the “quick fix” appeal of vaccinations, it can ite education indicator in the Human Development powerfully reinforce health policy interventions. Index calculated by the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report (UNDP, 2010). The number of years of education, some- DEPRIVATION AND MARGINAL- times disaggregated by wealth and gender, has also IZATION IN EDUCATION INDICATOR been widely used to construct Gini coefficients and Most governments operate under constitutions or other measures of inequality to map the distribution laws that enshrine the principle of equal opportunity in of education attainment within countries (Holsinger education for all citizens. Yet across the world, parental and Jacob, 2009; Ling and Tang, 2007; Patrinos wealth and education, gender, race and ethnicity have and Psacharapoulos, 2011; Thomas et al., 2002). a strong influence on what children are likely to achieve Disaggregated primary net enrollment rates (which in education, which in turn perpetuates wider patterns measure the share of primary school age children in of inequality.3 Understanding the configuration of inher- school) and gross enrollment rates