This report examines one of the most influential forces in any society, one that can contribute both to bridging differences or to deepening divides among people: skills. The skills that people have when they enter the workforce and that they can build on later in their work life determine to a large extent their ability to thrive, to raise families, and to feel vested in their country's economic and political future. Skills gaps and their formation, mirror and exacerbate social divides as well. In the European Union (EU), this issue has new urgency: changes in the labor market have made human capital an increasingly important divider between those how thrive on the labor market and those who not. Importantly, education systems in the EU are not becoming more successful in ensuring that all students acquire the skills needed. This report takes an in-depth look at socioeconomic disparities in educational opportunity and achievement, to aid policymakers in identifying where and how changes can be made to bring more educational equity, ultimately, into the future employment and well-being of Europe's more vulnerable populations. This report explores the extent to which education systems across the EU succeed in providing equal opportunities for all Europeans to build the relevant foundational skills required to thrive in the 21st century economies. The World Development Report 2018, Learning, showed there is a learning crisis around the world. Today, more children are in school than ever before, but there are still millions of children who are not learning, 60 percent of primary school children in developing countries still fail to meet minimum proficiency. Europe is no exception to this learning crisis. While European countries have much higher levels of learning among their students than many other countries, many education systems across Europe have become less successful in ensuring that all students acquire the skills that they need. In other words, just when skills became more important, schools became worse-or at least not any better-at providing equal opportunities to developing them. The WDR 2018 states that schooling without learning is not just a wasted opportunity, but also a great injustice. This report shows that the big education quality challenge in Europe is fundamentally one of equity. Education poverty and inequality have widened in many countries in Europe over the last 15 years
