LINEup was launched a year ago with the aim of researching educational inequalities in Europe and promoting fairer education systems. An interim report provides information on initial important progress in the EU-funded project.
One of the first milestones of LINEup was a systematic evaluation of the existing literature on educational inequalities. The analysis covered 32 European countries and aimed to identify studies and datasets with a longitudinal and/or repeated cross-sectional research design, to understand the methods used in the analysis of longitudinal data and to categorize the variables that are factors or predictors of educational inequalities.
The consortium analyzed a total of 1,399 publications and finally selected 157 for in-depth analysis. 77 relevant data sets from 16 countries were identified and a model was developed that includes 70 key variables in four areas (students, family, teachers and school/system). This model can now serve as a basis for further research and policy development. For future research and studies on educational inequalities, a freely accessible Zotero library was set up, which includes all publications that were included in the literature analysis. The analysis shows that educational inequalities remain a major challenge across Europe, despite numerous policy initiatives to promote equal opportunities in terms of fairness and inclusion.
Longitudinal data mapping was launched to assess the availability and quality of data on student achievement, identify trends in educational inequalities and investigate the feasibility of harmonizing data sets across countries.
In the next phase of the project, the research work will be deepened and the results translated into actionable recommendations. To this end, a feasibility study on the harmonization of data sets will be carried out in the second year of the project. In addition, qualitative field studies will examine how schools in France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal implement measures to reduce inequalities.
You can read the detailed LINEup interim report here: : Tackling Inequalities in Education Across Europe: a year of insights and progress from the LINEup project - LineUp
To the evaluation of the literature research
To the LINEup project page