Education: "Equality of Opportunity" vs "Equality of Outcome"

Equality and Diversity
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Explain the terms ‘equality of opportunity and ‘equality of outcome.’ What different implications do these concepts have in relation to understanding inequalities in education?
Equality of opportunity offers every learner a fair chance at accessing opportunities to reach their goals and improve their lives irrespective of their background CITATION Arn15 \l 1033 (Arneson, 2015). The opportunity should be available for all in an open and fair forum. On the other hand, equality of outcome is the belief that members of society should have the same outcome. Thus, the people are not only offered the opportunity, but also enabled to take advantage of that opportunity. These two concepts have vastly different implications on how inequality in education is addressed in education. The lens through which inequalities of education are addressed is pegged on how they are interpreted. For example, in equality of opportunity, a class will have the same teaching and learning resources for the students, and therefore, everyone has an equal chance of getting a good quality education. On the other hand, equality of outcome would ensure that all students in that class, irrespective of their intellectual ability, achieve the desired objective of learning, i.e. all students are able to read and write. This may prompt teachers to allocate more resources, i.e. time to the poorer performers and work with them to ensure they catch up with fast learners, but in the end, all students can read and write.
Equality of opportunity in education is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948) as ‘the notion that there should be equality of opportunity in education, where everyone has fair and equal access to a good quality education regardless of social background, race, gender or religion, and where people achieve success in education according to their efforts and ability, free of any form of discrimination CITATION Mac03 \l 1033 (Maclean, 2003). This notion embodies several principles, amongst them access to education for all. Their pursuit of educational goals should not be determined by their social, economic, political and cultural backgrounds but guaranteed as to their birthright. Equality of opportunity discourages any form of discrimination that can hamper or reduce the chances of academic success based on any factor, not of the individual choice. Historically, cultural factors like religion, race, gender, and social background, among other lines through which humans differ, determined the quality of education a child would get. Equality of opportunity seeks to quash these barriers and ensure that each child has had a fair shot at getting a good quality education.
However, it is important to note that equality of education does not guarantee equality of outcome. Children have different learning abilities, and if no further interventions are done for some students, they may fall behind. Therefore, the idea of equality of opportunity does not guarantee that the child will receive full development of their human personality and realize their full potential. Therefore, equality of opportunity seeks to break the barriers that hinder som...