The evolution of the OECD's position on equity in global education

This article explores the role the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) plays on national education policy and how it emerged to become a global champion of equity in education. Two overarching conclusions made in this article are that (1) the OECD’s position on equity in education has changed over the past three decades and that (2) the OECD’s evolving focus on equity in education is a reason why education systems around the world are including equity as a priority policy aim. It has remained largely unexplained why despite the OECD promoting equity as a key priority for national education policies for over two decades with influence on policy discourse around the world, equity of education outcomes has not generally improved globally. Many policymakers today wonder why equity policies so often fail. The premise of this article is that better understanding of the OECD’s role in advocating equity in global education could be helpful in efforts to advance equity in national education policies and reforms. • The OECD’s stance on equity in global education has changed over recent decades from looking at equality of inputs to focusing more on equity of outcomes. • The OECD’s global work on equity in education has gone through three periods of progression from 2000 to present. • The OECD’s evolving focus on equity in education is a reason why education systems around the world are including equity as a priority policy aim. • Clearer definitions of equity in education might lead to changes that would support educational inequities to be better addressed in the future.