What is equality of opportunity in education?

There is widespread disagreement about what equality of opportunity in education requires. For some it is that each child is legally permitted to go to school. For others it is that each child receives the same educational resources. Further interpretations abound. This fact presents a problem: when politicians or academics claim they are in favour of equality of opportunity in education, it is unclear what they mean and debate is hindered by mutual misunderstanding. In this article, I introduce a framework to ameliorate this problem. More specifically, I develop an important but neglected framework for the concept of equality of opportunity and apply it to examine particular conceptions of equality of opportunity in education. In doing this, I hope to produce a piece of applied conceptual analysis that can both help clarify existing positions within the equality of opportunity in education debate and allow those seeking to produce new positions to express them more clearly

The behaviour of clay surrounding pile foundation heat exchangers

Pile foundation heat exchangers (PFHX) are increasing in popularity as an alterna- tive to conventional air conditioning systems in large, commercial buildings. PFHX provide a sustainable means of building cooling and are compatible with the struc- ture of pile foundations given the constant ground temperatures. However, increased understanding of the behaviour of clay subject to seasonal temperature cycles is re- quired to ensure that PFHX can safely operate for the building’s design life. This study has developed a conceptual model for the microstructural behaviour of clay subjected to heating and cooling cycles. This conceptual model accounts for the effect of temperature on the clay particles, adsorbed double layer and pore water within the clay; identifying how this microstructural behaviour influences the bulk behaviour of the clay and therefore the observed response in the pile foundation. The conceptual model has been supported through thermal triaxial experiments on kaolin and Durham clays. Testing considered the change in sample volume, critical state friction angle and stiffness of two varying plasticity clays. The model has been further strengthened in its application to existing pieces of similar literature for both experimental and field study findings. This study concludes by providing an understanding of how this conceptual model applies to the real world response of PFHX installed in low and high plasticity clays, detailing the impact of the initial heating and cooling cycle on the longer term pile head displacement. These results support the use of PFHXs and recommend extending their temperature ranges to increase their efficiency without detrimental impact on the load bearing performance of the clay