To what extent is a meritocracy a fair system for allocating opportunities in education?
To answer this question, focus on a specific aspect of education policy in one country, for example:
Admission into Singaporean secondary schools,
Examination system in China, or
University entrance in Australia.
The ideas covered in the first four weeks will help you answer the question.
In responding to the question, you must draw on the ideas about merit discussed in at least one of the following articles:
Keskiner, E. (2015). “Is it merit or cultural capital?” The role of parents during early tracking in Amsterdam and Strasbourg among descendants of immigrants from Turkey. Comparative Migration Studies, 3(i).
Mijs, J. (2016). The Unfulfillable Promise of Meritocracy: Three Lessons and Their Implications for Justice in Education [Article]. Social Justice Research, 29(1), 14-34. doi.org/10.1007/s11211-014-0228-0
Owens, J., & de St Croix, T. (2020). Engines of social mobility? Navigating meritocratic education discourse in an unequal society [Article]. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68(4), 403-424. doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2019.1708863
Sen, A. (2000). Merit and justice In K. Arrow, S. Bowles, & S. Durlauf (Eds.), Meritocracy and Economic Equality (pp. 5-16). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
