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In general, the leading countries in this Index have the following elements in place for their preschool systems: A comprehensive early childhood development and promotion strategy, backed up with a legal right to such education. Universal enrolment of children in at least a year of preschool at ages five or six, with nearly universal enrolment between the ages of three and five. Subsidies to ensure access for underprivileged families. Where provision is privatised, the cost of such care is affordable relative to average wages. A high bar for preschool educators, with specific qualification requirements. This is often backed up with commensurate wages, as well as low student-teacher ratios. A well-defined preschool curriculum, along with clear health and safety standards. Clear parental involvement and outreach. A broad socioeconomic environment that ensures that children are healthy and well-nourished when they enter preschool.

Ensuring a high standard of teacher training and education, setting clear curriculum guidelines, and ensuring parental involvement are some of the main drivers of preschool education quality

Other factors can help too: reducing student-teacher ratios in classes; ensuring good health and safety measures; and creating clear links between preschool and primary school, to name just a few.

The Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations 1975 required these schools to choose between full state funding as comprehensive schools and full independence

The Thatcher government introduced the Assisted Places Scheme in England and Wales in 1980, whereby the state paid the school fees for those pupils capable of gaining a place but unable to afford the fees

The scheme was terminated by the Labour government in 1997, and since then the private sector has moved to increase its own means-tested bursaries.

A major area of debate in recent years has centred around the continuing charitable status of independent schools, which allows them not to charge VAT on school fees. Following the enactment of the Charities Bill, which was passed by the House of Lords in November 2006, charitable status is based on an organisation providing a "public benefit" as judged by the Charity Commission.[23]

Special education teachers, are important in the process of diagnosis and intervention, but it is not up to them alone to identify students. Each school has a group of staff that meets twice a month in order to assess the success of individual classrooms and potential concerns within classrooms. This group, which is comprised of the principal, the school nurse, the special education teacher, the school psychologist, a social worker and the classrooms’ teachers, determines whether problems exist, as well as how to rectify them. If students are considered to need help beyond what the school can provide, the school helps the family find professional intervention.

By establishing a comprehensive school for grades 1-9 with rigorous standards, improving teacher quality and making school funding based solely on student numbers, Finland has been able to almost completely eliminate what was once a huge disparity.

there is little disparity in performance among Finnish schools.

The country with the second-lowest rate of variance, Canada, still had a rate more than double that of Finland.

Finland has also been successful in uncoupling socioeconomic status from academic success or failure: there is only about a 6.8% variance based on students’ socioeconomic backgrounds, and a 23.2% variance based on a school’s socioeconomic background.