Advocating for equality among schools? Resources matter
by Rose Bolognini Communications and Publications Co-ordinator, Directorate for Education and Skills Disadvantaged students don’t have as many resources at home as their advantaged peers so ideally schools would need to compensate by providing more support. However, often schools reinforce social disparities rather than moderate them. The latest PISA in Focus brief reveals that students in socio-economically disadvantaged schools are less exposed to learning environments and educational resources that matter most for science performance. In fact, the latest round of PISA is telling. In 50 of the 72 countries and economies that participated, advantaged schools have more access to educational resources specific to science classes. And PISA finds that students perform better in science when schools have qualified science teachers, and high-quality laboratory and other materials for hands-on activities in science classes. What's more, disadvantaged students benefit more from being e...