Educational policy and the challenge of school segregation in Catalonia

a grey cover and with a picture of a boy and a girl reading a book.
This paper presents the case of Catalonia (Spain), which in the past few years has experienced a
significant influx of foreign students, with the proportion of the student population rising from 2
per cent, 10 years ago, to 15 per cent today. During this time, middle-class families have withdrawn
their children from lower-class schools – a process known as ‘social differentiation’. The combination
of these two phenomena has gradually led to a situation of segregation in some institutions.
In describing this process, the author focuses on the various approaches tested in Catalonia to fight
school segregation: (i) the formulation of indicators to measure the level of equity between schools
in terms of the distribution of different social groups and to highlight the isolation of certain groups
within the system; (ii) the analysis of the consequences of school segregation on system effectiveness
and academic success; and (iii) tools and policies to promote greater diversity.
Year:
Organisation:
UNESCO, IIEP
Keywords:
Educational discrimination, Educational indicators, Migrant education, educational policy
Marginalized & Vulnerable group:
Refugees & Migrants
Topic:
System wide approach
Level of Education:
Across the education sector
Type of Resources:
Research & Policy Papers
Country/Region:
Europe & North America
Language of Publication:
English