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Many education systems aim to provide learning opportunities to all students regardless of their backgrounds in order for them to realise their potential. Education systems are expected to break down barriers to social mobility. However, too often, children are not given enough opportunities to succeed, to pursue their interests, or to develop their skills. Individual circumstances over which students have no control often affect the quality of the schooling they receive and the educational path they choose. They also influence students' development of attitudes and dispositions toward learning, and can shape students' dreams for their future. Differences in opportunities for students often result in achievement gaps among students with different backgrounds. Over the last 20 years, PISA has shown that students' socio-economic status, which includes parents' occupations and educational levels and home possessions, are predictors of performance scores in reading, mathematics and science in all countries and economies participating in PISA. So far, this has been without a single exception. This policy brief points to key aspects to consider in providing students with needed opportunities to level the playing field for all students and achieve greater equity in education beyond the exigencies of the pandemic.

Most students have the beliefs and dispositions to help them cope and learn in challenging situations. The current pandemic has been ongoing since early 2020. This has affected ways in which teaching and learning are organised. Schools have had to provide education in different ways from the past. A special survey conducted as a collaborative effort between the OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank showed that upper-secondary schools were fully closed for over 65 days in 2020 on average across OECD countries with available data. The special survey also showed that where school closures were needed many countries made major efforts to mitigate their impact on students, focusing especially on vulnerable students by providing remedial measures to reduce students' learning gaps. Despite these efforts, recently released studies have shown that learning loss during the pandemic was most pronounced among socio-economically disadvantaged students and schools.

The COVID-19 crisis continues to impact education globally. According to UNESCO in mid-April 2020, 194 countries had closed schools nationwide, affecting almost 1.6 billion learners. By August 2020, there were still 105 country-wide closures affecting over a billion learners. Many educators have worked hard to sustain student learning and well-being. The form, intensity and success of those efforts vary across countries/economies, but digital technologies have emerged as a crucial prerequisite for success. Digital technologies offer the potential to provide new opportunities and alternative approaches for learning. They can shape what people learn, how they learn, where they learn and when they learn and, especially, the type of interactions between teachers and students. However, the COVID-19 crisis arose at a time when most education systems were unprepared to make the most of the potential of digital technologies. This PISA in Focus looks at how prepared schools and students were to be learning remotely.