Introduction: Overcoming inequalities in teaching and learning

This introduction highlights the main focus of the special issue on overcoming inequalities in teaching and learning. the 2013/4 education for all global monitoring report (gmr),teaching and learning: achieving quality education for all,underlines the fact that a lack of attention to education quality and a failure to reach the marginalized have contributed to a learning crisis that needs urgent attention. based on selected background papers for the 2013/4 gmr,this special issue draws attention to twin problems that restrain learning and result in wide inequalities: home background and teaching quality. to overcome the learning crisis,these factors must be tackled simultaneously. for education to be an equalizer,countries must develop contextually-relevant strategies,with particular attention to supporting teachers in their efforts to overcome inequalities in learning. © 2015,unesco ibe.