Access or Excellence? Tensions in Widening Participation Agendas

Education systems around the world are widening access. Whether through scholarship programs, quota systems, or revised national policies, the goal is clear: more learners from more backgrounds must be brought into the fold. In Vietnam, for example, the Ministry of Education is pursuing the universalisation of upper secondary education. In the UK, the Office for Students has set ambitious targets to increase participation among all students.

This shift is not only ethically sound but economically strategic. As highlighted in Eduettu’s Global Education Trends 2025, countries that invest in equitable access are more resilient, innovative, and better prepared for the demands of a changing global economy.

The Excellence Imperative

As the doors open wider, new challenges emerge. Institutions must now retain, support, and graduate increasingly diverse cohorts — often without proportional increases in funding or staffing. In highly competitive systems, such as those in Singapore, South Korea, or the UK, the fear is clear: Will quality decline?

Concerns around grade inflation, diluted curricula, and academic burnout among faculty are widespread. A 2023 OECD policy brief warned that without structural investment, widening access risks becoming symbolic rather than transformative. The Brookings Institution goes further, identifying a common “quality-equity trade-off” where poorly implemented reforms compromise both goals.

What Are We Measuring?

But perhaps the most dangerous idea of all is that we must choose between access and excellence. In truth, the two are deeply connected. High-performing education systems like Finland, Canada, and Singapore demonstrate that when designed well, equity enhances performance. Finland’s reduced emphasis on testing and stronger trust in teachers has resulted in both high achievement and low inequality. Singapore’s reforms, such as Teach Less, Learn More, embrace differentiated instruction while maintaining high standards.

A more useful question than “access or excellence?” is “what do we mean by excellence in the first place?” In too many systems, excellence is narrowly defined: test scores, university admissions, league tables. But these metrics often reflect performance.

True excellence should reflect a system’s ability to bring out the best in all students — not just a select few. Eduettu’s article on teacher professionalism argues that teacher quality is a more powerful driver of student outcomes than any admission policy. If we shift the spotlight from who gets in to what happens inside the classroom, we find better answers.

Models That Bridge the Divide

There are models emerging worldwide that actively pursue both goals. New Zealand’s Māori success frameworks integrate indigenous perspectives into national measures of achievement. In Canada, tiered interventions and community-school models support student diversity without compromising standards. UNESCO’s Futures of Education calls for systems that are inclusive, human-centered, and future-focused — resisting outdated binaries of who belongs and who performs.

At the policy level, the move toward whole-system thinking is gaining ground. This includes not only changes in curriculum and pedagogy but redesigning assessments, rethinking school accountability, and investing in the well-being of both learners and teachers.

As widening participation becomes the norm, not the exception, education systems must evolve beyond access as an endpoint. This means reimagining curricula that reflect lived realities, training teachers for inclusive classrooms, and embedding support mechanisms that ensure all students can thrive — not just survive. Access is the doorway. Excellence must be the journey.

In your context, how might redefining “excellence” create more space for inclusion — without lowering the bar? Let us know in the comments below.

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