School Choice and Ethnic Segregation

Abstract

Since the 1980s, ethnic segregation has become a feature of the educational landscape in many European countries. The article explores how school choice has influenced this stratification in Dutch primary schools. In contrast to earlier research, the authors found that the ethnic composition of schools plays an important role in the school choice of parents. The study shows that native Dutch parents are significantly more interested in a match between their social and cultural background and the pupil composition of schools than ethnic minority parents. Minority parents prefer schools with a good reputation and that focus on their educational problems (e.g., learning proper Dutch). Both groups of parents generally reject predominately "non-White" schools. The authors also found other factors influencing the segregation patterns of schools (e.g., competition between schools and admission policies).

Social competence as an educational goal: The role of the ethnic composition and the urban environment of the school

“…From an ethnic point of view, schools in the large Dutch cities are situated in more varied social environments than schools in small and medium-sized towns in the Netherlands. Generally, Dutch schools in a big-city environment have an ethnically heterogeneous student population but this is not necessarily the case (Karsten, Ledoux, Roeleveld, Felix, & Elshof, 2003). The increasing segregation in education has resulted in the emergence of predominantly 'white' and 'black' schools, particularly in the large cities.…”

Propuesta metodológica para la generación de zonas de asignación escolar: fomento de una movilidad sostenible y activa

“…La distancia al centro, por consiguiente, se ve muy influenciada por una serie de variables: 1) el estatus social, que influye en la capacidad de los individuos de aumentar el coste de la distancia; 2) la raza o etnia de la unidad familiar; 3) el nivel educativo de los padres (vinculado al estatus socioeconó-mico) (Karsten et al, 2003;Andre-Bechely, 2007;Chen et al, 2011;Sang et al, 2011). En este sentido, hay estudios que muestran que estudiantes cuyas familias tienen un nivel educativo alto realizan viajes de mayor distancia para desplazarse al centro educativo (Bunar y Kallstenius, 2005), mientras que los centros con menor rendimiento académico reclutan a estudiantes que residen en un área de influencia más cercana (Walford, 2003;Butler et al, 2007;Trumberg, 2011).…”

Equal Opportunities?

“…Parental choice is also an important factor. There is evidence (for example, Karsten et al, 2003) that this choice can be influenced by differential preferences of different ethnic and social groups. A study by Schneider and Buckley (2001) in Washington, D.C. revealed that parents have a strong behavioural bias toward the demographic characteristics (that is, the country of origin of the parents) of the student population during their choice process, which is in marked contrast to verbal reports of the importance of race.…”