What is educational inequality? Divergences and continuities in the major educational reforms in Spain

Abstract

Despite its relevance from a sociological perspective, educational inequalities have tended to become a minor, even subsidiary, social problem in the great educational debates in Spain. Although there is some precedent, concern about school exclusion began to be built into educational policy during the 1970s. Since then, educational reforms have conceptualised the phenomenon in very different ways. The aim of this article is to examine the formulations of educational inequality in four of the major school reforms carried out in our country in the last half century (LGE, LOGSE, LOMCE and LOMLOE). Any political approach to this issue entails a certain understanding of how and why it originates and how it can be balanced. This paper is based on documentary analysis of legal texts and previous academic approaches in order to identify how the issue of inequality is represented in each of the reforms. We also link the logic behind these formulations with the strategies proposed to alleviate the problem. The research was carried out within the framework of the H2020 PIONEERED project on practices to address educational inequality in Europe.