The impact of school choice on school (re)segregation: settler-colonialism, critical geography and Bourdieu

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the extent to which public high schools become more or less socially mixed after families are allowed to choose schools outside their designated catchment areas in a mid-sized Canadian city. We draw on settler-colonial theory, critical human geography, and critical social theory while applying a critical mapping of school choice. We find that the city’s high schools are racially and socially segregated, with the most affluent families with European backgrounds concentrated on its west side, and the low-income families with Indigenous and racialised backgrounds clustered on its east side. The west side also has specialised choice programmes that facilitate the social reproduction of both the local residents and mobile students from the rest of the city who choose the programmes and are from advantaged backgrounds. Based on these findings, we argue that school choice practices reinforce school (re)segregation.

KEYWORDS:

• School choice
• segregation
• settler-colonialism
• critical geography
• Pierre Bourdieu

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the special issue editors, Dr. Laura Perry, Dr. Emma Rowe, Dr. Christopher Lubienski and anonymous reviewers for their feedback. Also, we would like to thank the school division who provided the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

SSHRC Insight Development and Grant University of Manitoba, University Research Grant Programme.

Notes on contributors

Ee-Seul Yoon

Dr. Ee-Seul Yoon is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration, Leadership and Policy at the University of Manitoba. Her research aims to understand socio-spatially how the marketization and privatization of education impact equity, diversity and inclusion in the Canadian education systems. She is currently conducting two SSHRC-funded studies that examine the issues of choice and access facing marginalized and racialized learners and the complex urban challenges facing educational leaders and policy-makers across Canadian cities.

Victoria Grima

Ms. Victoria Grima is a Master of Environment student in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of Manitoba. She completed her undergraduate bachelor's degree in Engineering and Architecture (Hons.) at the University of Malta. Additionally, she worked at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA). Her research focuses on the integration of GIS technologies with Indigenous Traditional Knowledge to better understand the implications of hydro-electrical power infrastructure on the cultural livelihoods of the Indigenous people in Northern Manitoba.

Corinne E. Barrett DeWiele

Dr. Corinne E. Barrett DeWiele teaches in the Faculty of Education at the Université de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She works at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in Educational Administration and Policy. Her research focuses on the mistreatment of school administrators, but she also has a great interest in French Immersion and issues that stem from schools of choice policy.

Lucas Skelton

Mr. Lucas Skelton is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba. He currently is employed at the Winnipeg School Division's Adult English as an Additional Language (EAL) Program as an EAL Teacher and as an instructor at the University of Winnipeg in the Department of Education. He has taught courses on EAL, academic writing, the public school system, and educational psychology. His research interests include Teaching English as a Second Language, diversity in the teaching force, internationally educated teachers, and academic writing.