Policy Implications of Individual Differences in Learning Ability: a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Husén, Torsten 1978. Policy Implications of Individual Differences in Learning Ability: A Comparative Perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 22, 173‐191. Educational policy implications of individual differences are of particular relevance in societies with a certain social mobility where status is increasingly achieved instead of being ascriptive. Problems of differentiation and uniformity of educational provisions are products of the era of emphasis on equality of educational opportunity. The diversity/uniformity problem has been dealt with in different ways in various national systems of education. Three typical solutions are dealt with in this paper: the American comprehensive model, the Western European elitist model, and the Eastern European model of a unitary school. It is pointed out that an element of meritocracy runs through all the three systems, irrespective of the social and economic order in which they operate.