6. Conclusions and Recommendations
For the last 25 years, European countries have implemented more than 400 reform initiatives to combat educational inequalities that reveal a clear systemic approach to tackling inequality that spans all levels of education, from early childhood to tertiary education. Among these many reform initiatives, some common trends appear.
All countries prioritise access to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), which indicates that early intervention is seen as key to bolstering educational equality and equity. Enhancing access to ECEC has been promoted by reforms that include extending compulsory education into preschool, guaranteeing a place in ECEC, improving the institutional infrastructure in terms of geographical access, and reducing economic barriers. In different ways, reforms of this sort produce interventions in relation to both local administrative requirements as well as in relation to parents to increase children’s enrolment. Disadvantaged groups, such as migrants or socio-economically disadvantaged, are targeted with reforms. In addition to reforms aimed at securing access, many reforms also aim at mitigating inequality by adjusting pedagogical practices and curriculum.
Although primary and lower secondary education are obligatory and free in all countries, the different reform initiatives showcase that formal access is insufficient in addressing inequality. Reforms that reduce hidden costs and geographical disparities aim to decrease inaccessibility in systems that are formally accessible. Similarly, some reforms target socio-economically disadvantaged students by introducing homework support, additional tuition, or by modifying resource allocation scales to financially support schools in vulnerable areas. Many reforms thus seek to enhance inclusion of groups that need additional support, such as migrants, children in need of special education, or students at risk of early school leaving and drop-out. In addition to securing access, many reforms therefore adjust school curriculum and transition to upper secondary education. The European countries thus consistently aim to reduce dropout rates and improve learning outcomes for disadvantaged groups, integrating strategies like tutoring, mentoring, and curriculum adaptations.
Upper secondary education is increasingly prioritised as a vital part of lifelong learning. At this level, expenses in education are oftentimes introduced again after the formally costless level of primary and lower secondary education. Some reforms therefore seek to ameliorate the disparities that might be experienced due to economic constraints. However, the reforms at this level of education often seek to address inequality in education by strengthening the quality of education through sustained teacher training or through introducing curriculum reforms, often with a strong component of aligning the curriculum with needs in the job market. Tailored support to students with special needs or at risk of early school leaving is also a very common trend at this level of education.
Reforms targeting vocational education similarly seek to avoid school drop-out and securing transition to job or further short-cycle education. Tailored support and mentorship are common trends at this level, as is reforms aligning curriculum with job market needs. Significantly, we see vocational reforms meeting the needs of a dynamic and ever-changing job market by way of enhancing educational flexibility and transferable skills. At the tertiary level of education, common trends are reforms that enhance access and reduce economic barriers, but reforms that target special educational needs are also very common.
Taken together, these reforms reveal a multi-level, holistic trend: early intervention, inclusive practices, targeted support for vulnerable groups, and alignment with societal and labour market demands are integrated across the system. Equity is pursued not only through formal access but by shaping the quality, relevance, and inclusivity of education at every stage, reflecting a clear commitment and European-wide shift toward developing education systems that are both socially just and adaptable to diverse student needs. However, the 25 years of educational reforms also reveal a significant increase in reform implementation, raising concerns of rapid policy-cycles, while a substantial number of reforms also appear not to have been evaluated, which undermines both the potential for European cross-fertilisation as well as a national evidence-based approach to policymaking.
This policy analysis have documented a host of reforms that attend to challenges associated with efforts to improve educational opportunities for students representing low socio-economic status, migration background, special education needs, early school leaving, and geographical disparities. However, we also note that comparatively fewer reforms address overall wellbeing, mental health, recognise LGBTQIA+ students, racism, and inclusive education.
Recommendations
This report concludes with recommendations intended to advance sustainable, evidence-based policymaking:
Adopt a holistic approach to educational equity by ensuring inclusive education for all learners and create safe, inclusive school communities
As many reforms analysed in this report showcase, it is necessary to move beyond formal access to include, for instance, physical and mental health and provide tailored support for students with diverse needs, including those with learning difficulties, special educational needs, different gender identity, sexuality, or ethnic background. While several of these dimensions have been addressed in education reforms for many years, as we have discussed in chapter 5, new and increasingly prominent areas – particularly students’ mental health and overall well-being – continue to emerge and warrant more systematic, coordinated policy responses, while others – such as the LGBTQIA+ population – have already attracted significant attention in policy discourse but which have apparently not translated into a significant number of educational reforms yet. Tailored support for diverse student populations can be strengthened through streamlining a focus on well-being and mental health as well as diversity sensitivity in policy initiatives.
Ensure strategic alignment and policy continuity across political cycles to provide sustainable long-term policy interventions
As has been indicated with chart 3 in chapter 3 “Total Number of Reforms per Year” and discussed in chapter 5, a significant increase – it has roughly tripled – in annual policy development and implementation has taken place between 1999-2024. Although this policy analysis does not provide knowledge into why this is so, it is possible that this reflects common practices of rapid reform-cycles. One of the possible consequences of this (observed in many of the examined cases) is that evaluation processes are not carried out or are prematurely interrupted, making it impossible to fully assess the effects of reforms or to prevent recurring problems in subsequent reform cycles. Rapid and frequent implementation of new reforms can also overburden administrative capacities, undermine motivation of teachers, parents and pupils, and complicate implementation processes. Therefore, we recommend that policymakers commit to align reforms with long-term strategic frameworks (national and EU-level) to maintain continuity across political cycles, strive to avoid superficial or insufficient implementation practices, and seek to avoid rapid reform-cycles.
Strengthen evaluation and evidence-based policy to better understand reform effects, improve subsequent initiatives and to support the international exchange of good practices
As it has been discussed in chapter 5, it is clear from the number of identified reform evaluations in chapter 3 (chart 9), that the practice of reform evaluation appear to be either a lower priority than developing and implementing new policies, or that reform evaluations oftentimes are not made accessible to a general public. A significant share of the reforms examined did not report evaluation results in a comprehensive manner, which limits the usability of evidence and underscores the importance of transparent, publicly accessible evaluation practices. Out of the 431 reforms analysed, as many as 300 had no identifiable evaluation component. This gap illustrates how the absence of systematic evaluation weakens the ability to understand reform effects, draw policy lessons, or improve subsequent initiatives. In contrast, some countries have introduced structured, recurring evaluation cycles for education reforms, ensuring that reform outcomes are regularly monitored and continuously informed by evidence. On this basis, we recommend making systematised and publicly available evaluation a component of all reforms, both before implementation and after, to assess long-term impact. This will also improve the benefits of European cross-fertilisation – fostering the exchange of good practices and avoiding repeated mistakes – through enhancing the possibility to compare European evaluations by making national evaluation data available in major European languages. Similarly, this can encourage systematic research and longitudinal studies to understand delayed effects of reforms. Establish interdisciplinary teams at European, national, and local levels to address specific issues, such as the situation of migrant children.
Enhance transparency and accessibility of reform data to strengthen comparability and enable the use of effective solutions for evidence-based policy
As highlighted in the report, existing statistical and database limitations — including incomplete registration practices and inconsistencies in how reforms are recorded across countries — constrain the comparability of reform data. This underscores the need to further develop and systematise data-registration practices at the European level to strengthen the evidence base for cross-country analysis.
In conclusion, educational policies aimed at promoting equity and social inclusion should: adopt a comprehensive approach that combines diverse types of measures; explicitly integrate components that address student wellbeing and provide targeted support for marginalised groups; employ robust and systematic evaluation practices; and strengthen data infrastructure to support research and policy learning.