With reference to the body of multidisciplinary research produced using the Young Lives dataset, author Professor Cath Porter argues that longitudinal evidence using a life-course perspective can inform policy to address educational inequalities and meet SDG4. Inequality of opportunity in education had been falling over the 20 years since the Millennium, but progress has been reversed by recent global crises.   Investment in education systems is necessary but is not sufficient to reach SDG4. Young Lives’ longitudinal evidence shows that the home and community environment prior to children going to school are crucial to their future learning and that in addition to investment in education systems, children’s learning needs to be supported by complimentary, co-ordinated policies covering nutrition, early childhood development, child work, and child and social protection.  Read the full article in the International Journal of Educational Development.