The empty form of fairness: Equality of educational opportunity as an instrumentalizing force in education

Abstract

The article investigates the instrumentalizing and ontological effects of the concept of equality of educational opportunity (EEO). Starting with the Coleman report ( Coleman et al., 1966 ), through the democratization of secondary and tertiary education, and reading it in light of the recent debate on educationalization of social problems ( Smeyers and Depaepe, 2008 ), the text inquires what has become of education under the influence of this powerfull concept. The evolution of this becoming is shaped by the paradox of equal treatment and selection, two fundamental principles on which the EEO ideal is based. ( Dubet, 2008 ). The objectivity of evaluation and comparability of results that this ideal implies sets EEO as one of the most important bases for the development of quantitative evaluation and testing, thus transforming the curriculum and shaping educational practices ( Stańczyk, 2013 ; Terrail, 2002 ). Moreover, the EEO principle brings the educational system to legitimize social inequalities: since it means treating students equally while they have to be ranked and come out segregated, the belief in inequality of intelligence is being reinforced, and inequalities are educationalized instead of being alleviated. Finally, the research shows that EEO policy and the EEO concept is pedagogically empty, mainly serving as an expression, or allegory of our concern with social inequalities ( Labaree, 2008 ; Rancière, 2002 ), with no real educational means serving this concern. The good news here is that such emptiness leaves room for practices of pedagogical equality being invented and introduced into the school.