Inequality in Education: Comparative and International Perspectives is a compilation of conceptual chapters and national case studies that includes a series of methods for measuring education inequalities. The book provides up-to-date scholarly research on global trends in the distribution of formal schooling in national populations. It also offers a strategic comparative and international education policy statement on recent shifts in education inequality, and new approaches to explore, develop and improve comparative education and policy research globally. Contributing authors examine how education as a process interacts with government finance policy to form patterns of access to education services. In addition to case perspectives from 18 countries across six geographic regions, the volume includes six conceptual chapters on topics that influence education inequality, such as gender, disability, language and economics, and a summary chapter that presents new evidence on the pernicious consequences of inequality in the distribution of education. The book offers (1) a better and more holistic understanding of ways to measure education inequalities; and (2) strategies for facing the challenge of inequality in education in the processes of policy formation, planning and implementation at the local, regional, national and global levels.

Inequality in Education: A Critical Analysis.- Conceptual Issues.- Distribution of Opportunities Key to Development.- Does Capitalism Inevitably Increase Inequality?.- Education and Inequality in the Developing World.- Gender Inequalities in Educational Participation.- Inequalities in Education for People with Disabilities.- Language and Democracy in Africa.- Asia.- Reconstructing Access in the Cambodian Education System.- Higher Education in China: Access, Equity and Equality.- Using Enrollment and Attainment in Formal Education to Understand the Case of India.- Education Inequality in the Republic of Korea: Measurement and Causes.- Access and Equity: Who are the Students at Taiwan's Top Universities?.- Provincial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Education: A Descriptive Study of Vietnam.- Europe.- Different Paths, Similar Effects: Persistent Inequalities and Their Sources in European Higher Education.- Religious Education and Islam in Europe.- Middle East & North Africa.- Social Inequalities, Educational Attainment, and Teachers in Egypt.- Inequalities in Iranian Education: Representations of Gender, Socioeconomic Status, Ethnic Diversity, and Religious Diversity in School Textbooks and Curricula.- North & South America.- Mexico: Evolution of Education and Inequality in the Last Two Decades.- Issues of Difference Contributing to US Education Inequality.- Measuring Educational Inequality in South Africa and Peru.- Participation of Civil Society in School Governance: Comparative Research of Institutional Designs in Nicaragua and Brazil.- Sub-Saharan Africa.- The History and Devolution of Education in South Africa.- Measuring Education Inequalities in Commonwealth Countries in Africa.- Conclusion.- Education Inequality and Academic Achievement.