We know it is critical to measure equity in education: the fairness of education provision and quality of learning outcomes, as well as access to schooling, if we are to meet the global goals and targets for education.

We also know there are many different ways to conceptualize the measurement of equity, with different perspectives, start points and aims – often driven by the current political climate.

But now it is time to take a deep breath and make that all-important leap from the conceptual to the practical measurement of education equity. In the Handbook on Measuring Equity in Education, published earlier this year by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), we zoom in on two key concepts – equality of condition and impartiality – and map out a five-step process for their measurement. We hope that it will help researchers navigate their way towards a fairly reliable measure of educational equity.