Understanding school segregation of economically disadvantaged students and students with special educational needs in the local context

Abstract

This study aims to understand the causes of school segregation for both economically disadvantaged students and students with special educational needs (SEN) by analysing three factors: socio-spatial inequalities, school ownership and the Bilingual Programme of the Community of Madrid in a local context. For this purpose, we undertake an ex-post facto study using data from 11,934 primary school students enrolled in public and private-subsidised schools in a big city in the south of the Community of Madrid. We use the Hutchens index to determine the impact of the three variables on school segregation. The results indicate that differences between neighbourhoods explain 61.4% of school segregation for economically disadvantaged students and 38.5% for students with SEN. Ownership makes a much smaller contribution to segregation (8.5% and 11.2%), a phenomenon mainly due to the high contribution of the public system. Finally, segregation within public schools is marked by the Bilingual Programme, especially for students with SEN, accounting for 30.3% of its total magnitude. Consequently, even though these segregations are different phenomena that require different actions, an effective strategy to fight against them calls for a common approach that involves intervening in socio-spatial inequalities, in the role of private schools and the Bilingual Programme.

Keywords: school segregation; private education; bilingual education; socio-economic status; special educational needs