To advance social integration, policy makers strive for the educational desegregation of immigrant students in Flemish schools. Given the lack of empirical research supporting this policy, this article examines the association between the ethnic composition of schools and native and immigrant students' interethnic friendships, social participation, and sense of belonging in school. Blau's structural theory offers the theoretical rationale for these associations and the coherence of the three indicators. Multilevel analyses of data from a 2004–05 survey of 11,872 students, 1,324 of whom were immigrant students, in a sample of 85 Flemish secondary schools demonstrate that school ethnic composition is associated with interethnic friendships and social participation for native students, but not for immigrant students, whereas socioeconomic status is decisive for immigrant students' interethnic friendships. Neither immigrants' nor natives' sense of belonging in school is associated with ethnic composition. Hence, while the findings do not provide support for either school segregation or desegregation policies aimed at improving the social integration of immigrant students, mixing schools appears to have a positive influence on the social integration of Flemish youths. The consequences of these findings for future research and social policy are discussed in the conclusions.

Research into the effects of ability grouping has usually been conducted within schools. In the British and North American context, where the bulk of this kind of research has been carried out, ability grouping commonly occurs within schools. In Flanders – the Dutch-speaking, northern part of Belgium – as in other European countries, there are not only tracks within schools, but schools themselves can be distinguished by the curriculum they offer. This study questions whether students’ global self-esteem is affected differently by processes of within-school tracking (multilateral schools) compared to processes of between-school tracking (categorial schools). Analyses are based on a subsample of the Flemish Educational Assessment, gathered in 2004–2005, encompassing 10 multilateral and 56 categorial schools with 3,758 academic and 2,152 vocational students. Multi-level analyses (HLM6) show that academic students have a significant higher self-esteem than vocational students and this difference is larger in multilateral schools. Academic students in multilateral schools have a slightly higher self-esteem than those in categorial schools. Conceivably, academic students compare themselves with the vocational track students, leading to a higher awareness of status gratification, resulting in a higher self-esteem.

Starting from the present knowledge society with its social overvaluing of cognition and white-collar jobs at the expense of manual labour, this article examines whether school type—academic versus technical/vocational schools—relates to students’ sense of futility. It assesses the schools’ culture of futility and investigates the explanatory value of sense of futility and culture of futility in the relation of school type with study involvement and study culture. Multilevel analyses of data from 6,373 students in 44 Flemish schools (2004–2005) show that students in technical/vocational schools share higher feelings of futility, suggesting the existence of cultures of futility. The students’ study involvement relates to their sense of futility. The schools’ futility culture affects the students’ study involvement independent of their sense of futility. Finally, futility culture explains the association between school type and study involvement, and is responsible for less study-oriented cultures in technical/vocational schools

This article describes and critically analyzes how sociologists in England have studied racial/ethnic inequalities in secondary education between 1980 and 2005. This study is different from earlier literature reviews conducted in this particular area in that it adopts a more systematic approach and includes the most recent studies in this field. Five major research traditions are identified: those of political arithmetic, racism and racial discrimination in school, school effectiveness and school inclusion, culture and educational outcomes, and educational markets and educational outcomes. These research traditions are critically examined in terms of their research questions, methods, outcomes, and related debates. The development of particular research traditions is explained by pointing to more general developments in terms of social policy and intellectual climate in England. A final section offers a discussion of how sociologists of education could improve future research on race/ethnicity and educational inequality in England.