This report is part of one of the studies within the project “What about equivalence” granted by The Swedish Research Council and led by Professor Tomas Englund at Örebro University, Sweden. Studying equity, equality and equivalence in education across borders posses a number of challenges associated not only to their conceptualization but to other aspects such as the historical and political dimensions. The different approaches that are found in sociological analysis of educational equity show the underlined complexity. Acknowledging these limitations the aims of this report are threefold. (a) To present main issues concerning the implications for equity, equality and equivalence of the current educational policies in different national educational systems. (b) To present, and to some extent expose for further discussion, what concepts, theoretical grounds and indicators are used to approach the subject at issue. (c) To present some of the current concerns on equity, equality and equivalence in other educational contexts and in Sweden in order to, at a later stage, assess its possible relationship. The report also expects to be a springboard for the further joint enquiry and discussions to come among the scholars who have been involved in its realization and others interested in the subject. The scope is therefore limited to this needed open up to mutual knowledge of perspectives on a complex issue, which is of paramount importance for school practices.

The perspectives on equity, equality, and equivalence, which are presented in this report varies indeed concerning both the conceptual frames as well as the methodological approaches used by each contributor. Rather than a hindrance this “diversity” is assumed as a meaningful contribution to the tenet supported in this report that issues of equity, equality and equivalence should be viewed with a broader perspective beyond simple comparison of concepts across national educational systems. The contributions here presented indeed map this broad perspective.