https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8908-5842
![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
While several studies have investigated the role of parental school choice in exacerbating school segregation, less attention has been paid to the role of institutional contexts and specific educational policies and regulations. However, since the institutional context sets the framework for both school autonomy regarding the admission process and the actual extent of school choice, it has a significant effect on parents’ choices. By comparing two educational contexts that have undergone opposite policy interventions regarding the role of parental choice in school allocation – Mülheim, Germany and Amsterdam, the Netherlands – we confirm the idea that expanding parental choice increases segregation levels. However we also suggest that the relationship between education policies and segregation patterns is very complex and dependent on the interactions of various aspects lying within and outside the education system. Both cases reveal that competition between schools and theirdiscretionary scope in admitting pupils also plays a key part.
虽然有些研究调查了家长择校在加剧学校隔离方面的作用，但对制度环境和具体教育政策法规作用的关注较少。然而，由于制度环境为学校的招生自主权和择校的实际程度设定框架，它对家长的选择有着重要影响。通过比较德国米尔海姆和荷兰阿姆斯特丹这两种教育环境——二者在学校分配中父母选择的作用方面历经相反的政策干预——我们证实了扩大家长选择会增加隔离程度的观点。不过，我们也认为教育政策和隔离模式之间的关系异常复杂，取决于教育系统内外各方面的相互作用。这两个案例都表明，学校之间的竞争以及它们在招生方面的自由裁量权也起到关键作用。
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Mülheim an der Ruhr is henceforth referred to as ‘Mülheim’.
2 We refer to denominational schools as schools with a specific religious orientation.
3 This is possible since the sixteen states are responsible for education in Germany and can therefore decide upon their own regulations.
4 The modified isolation index calculates the weighted average proportion of pupils of a particular category (lower and highly educated parents) in schools minus the total proportion of that group at the aggregated level (here the city). Highly educated is defined as at least one parent completed college education (Bachelor). Lower educated refers to at most lower vocational training.
5 The dissimilarity index refers to the imbalance in the proportion of pupils of two groups (here those with parents with lower versus higher educational attainment and those with a migration background versus natives) in schools compared to the city’s average, ranging from 0 to 100. The index indicates the sum of the proportion of pupils of both groups required to bring all schools into balance with the city mean.
6 Parents are classified into three groups according to their educational attainment: the category ‘high educational attainment’ comprises all parents with at least a higher education entrance qualification (Abitur) or a university degree; ‘medium’ comprises all with a school-leaving qualification below the highest secondary school track, but with completed vocational education; and all parents without any completed vocational training (and without Abitur) are classified as ‘low educational attainment’.
7 According to the official statistics of the City of Mülheim, children with a ‘migration background’ are defined as such when they or their parents were not born in Germany or when one of the three does not have a German passport.
8 This is quote comes from an interview with a leading social-democratic (SPD) politician in NRW specialised in education policy. The interview was conducted by one of the authors as part of the original research project.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Willem Rogier Boterman
Willem Rogier Boterman is associate professor Urban Geography at the University of Amsterdam. He researchers the intersections of social class, geography and education.
Isabel Ramos Lobato
Isabel Ramos Lobato is postdoctoral researcher at Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies (URBARIA). She specializes in research on urban phenomena, such as socio-spatial segregation, education and neighbourhood change.