Private and public schools: A spatial analysis of social segregation in France

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Scotland), 2020-03, Vol.57 (4), p.865-882
• Main Authors: Courtioux, Pierre, Maur, Tristan-Pierre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Enrollments; Local government; Middle schools; Municipalities; Private schools; Private sector; Public schools; Schools; Segregation; Social exclusion; Spatial analysis; Students; Urban areas; Urban schools
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098019859508

This article shifts our understanding of the geographies of education away from large cities. It provides a geographical and urban analysis of the contribution of differences in enrolment between the public and private sectors to social segregation in French middle schools. Using the mutual information index, we show that the contribution of public/private divergences is rising and is higher in middle-sized urban areas and central municipalities. These geographical areas, however, are not those where social segregation is highest, nor those where the private sector is commonly regarded as the main cause of segregation. Moreover, the gaps between the public and the private sectors are stronger at the local level. This confirms the idea that the private sector is indeed a tool for circumventing France’s School Map (la Carte scolaire) for allocating places to pupils and that private schools create additional social differences locally. 本文转变了我们对大城市教育地理的理解。它从地理和城市角度分析了公立和私立部门入学差异对法国中学社会隔离的影响。利用相互信息指数，我们表明，公立/私立差异的影响正在上升，且在中等城市地区和中心城市更高。然而，这些地理区域不是社会隔离最严重的区域，也不是私营部门通常被视为隔离的主要原因的区域。此外，公共部门和私营部门之间的差距在地方一级更大。这证实了这样一种观点，即私营部门确实是绕过法国学校地图(la Carte scolaire)向学生分配名额的工具，而且私立学校在当地造成了额外的社会差异。