In April 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, close to 1.6 billion children and youth were out of school due to temporary closures, representing more than 90% of students around the world, according to the United Nations. 

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In this episode, we take an international perspective with our guests Arif Naveed, Aya Waller-Bey, and Sara Allen. We discuss the double-edged sword of education systems around the world, for example, the US and Pakistan: how education both preserves inequality and how it can help us to overcome inequality. 

Arif Naveed explores how the underlying social hierarchy that shapes day-to-day living also impacts the economic outcomes of schooling. Aya Waller-Bey talks about quality as opposed to simple access to education. Access depends on deep structural factors that mean opportunity is not equally distributed. Sara Allan gets us thinking about changing the way that institutions organise instruction and the role of the teacher. Would more of a student-centered approach improve access and inclusion in schools?

Education’s moment of reckoning: access and inclusion in schools

University of Cambridge