In the world’s richest countries, some children do worse at school than others because of circumstances beyond their control, such as where they were born, the language they speak or their parents’ occupations. These children enter the education system at a disadvantage and can drop further behind if educational policies and practices reinforce, rather than reduce, the gap between them and their peers.
Large inequalities in children’s educational progress are linked to family background. These inequalities already exist when children enter preschool. In 16 of the 29 European countries for which data are available, children from the poorest fifth of households have a lower preschool attendance rate than children from the richest fifth.
KINDINMI sends a link to this very interesting document: https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/an-unfair-start-inequality-children-education_37049-RC15-EN-WEB.pdf