Equity in education can be defined in many different ways. Building on the conceptual
framework defined in the OECD Report No More Failures, equity in education can be seen
through two dimensions: fairness and inclusion (Field, Kuczera and Pont, 2007).2 Equity as
inclusion means ensuring that all students reach at least a basic minimum level of skills.
Equitable education systems are fair and inclusive and support their students to reach their
learning potential without either formally or informally pre-setting barriers or lowering
expectations. Equity as fairness implies that personal or socio-economic circumstances, such
as gender, ethnic origin or family background are not obstacles to educational success