The role of geography in school segregation in the free parental choice context of Dutch cities

Abstract

School segregation and residential segregation are generally highly correlated. Cities in the Netherlands are considered to be moderately segregated residentially, while the educational landscape is choice-based but publicly funded. This article analyses how school and residential segregation are interrelated in the educational landscape of Dutch cities. Drawing on individual register data about all primary school pupils in the 10 largest cities, it demonstrates that segregation by ethnicity and social class is generally high, but that the patterns differ strongly between cities. By hypothetically allocating children to the nearest schools, this article demonstrates that even in a highly choice-based school context school segregation is to a large extent the effect of residential patterns. The role of residential trends, notably gentrification, is therefore crucial for understanding the differences in current trends of school segregation across Dutch urban contexts.

School choice and school segregation in the context of gentrifying Amsterdam

“…Children are therefore much more segregated than the general population (Boterman, 2020), a phenomenon also observed in other urban contexts (Bråmå & Andersson, 2020;Owens, 2016Owens, , 2020. The residential segregation of families between middle class children in ownership and low-income social tenants also strongly intersects with racialized categories, making race-class relations crucial for understanding school-choice dynamics (Boterman, 2013(Boterman, , 2019.…”

“…It has been established that choice generally exacerbates school segregation (Boterman, 2019;Kosunen et al, 2016;Saporito, 2003;S€ oderstr€ om & Uusitalo, 2010). The mechanisms of choice are however not as straightforward as one may assume.…”

“…Nonetheless, schools have specific religious, demographic, and pedagogical profiles that appeal to specific groups of parents, who differ in terms of their social class and ethnic backgrounds (S. Karsten et al, 2003). The highly diverse landscape and the presence of for instance Islamic, Jewish and Hindu schools is also mentioned as significant factors in school segregation (Boterman, 2019). Parents search for a 'match between home and school', that they find in the curriculum and denomination offered at a particular school (S. Karsten et al, 2003).…”

“…However, most primary aged children attend a school in the close vicinity of their home. In a recent study it is concluded that if children were to attend the closest school to their home, segregation in schools would remain at about 70-80% of the observed levels (Boterman, 2019). Despite freedom of school choice, also in the Dutch context, where one lives strongly determines which (primary) school one attends.…”

La Incidencia del Programa Bilingüe en la Segregación Escolar por Origen Socioeconómico en la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid: Evidencia a partir de PISA

“…La literatura también recoge evidencia sobre las posibles causas por las cuales un sistema educativo está más segregado que otros. Entre estos elementos encontramos la segregación residencial por origen socioeconómico (ver por ejemplo, Bonal, Zancajo y Scandurra, 2019;Boterman, 2019;Owens, 2018;Owens, Reardon y Jencks, 2016), las preferencias heterogéneas de las familias (Oosterbeek, Sóvágó y van der Klaauw, 2019), una oferta diferenciada como la expansión de los centros educativos de titularidad concertada en España (Fernández Enguita, 2008;Murilllo y Martínez-Garrido, 2017;Murillo, Belavi y Pinilla, 2018; Save the Children, 2019a), el sistema de asignación de los estudiantes en los centros a partir las preferencias de las familias (Calsamiglia, Martínez-Mora y Miralles, 2017), u otros mecanismos de la política educativa (Gortázar, Mayor y REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación 221 Montalbán, 2020;Saporito, 2017).…”