Wenn durch Politiken Familien zur ‚freien Schulwahl‘ einer spezifischen Einzelschule aufgefordert werden und Einzelschulen sich dafür als Optionen anzubieten haben, entstehen schulwahlbezogene Wettbewerbssituationen. Diese sind in einer Vielzahl internationaler Kontexte beobachtbar und gewinnen sowohl im Primar- als auch im Sekundarbereich in Deutschland an Bedeutung. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die schulwahlbezogene Wettbewerbssituation in einem von Armut geprägten Berliner Bezirk nach der zum Schuljahr 2010/11 erfolgten Berliner Schulstrukturreform untersucht und im Kontext einschlägiger deutschsprachiger und internationaler Forschung analysiert. Insgesamt lassen vielfältigen Forschungsergebnisse, die mit dem Phänomen schulwahlbezogener Wettbewerbssituationen in Verbindung zu bringen sind, daran zweifeln, dass die mit einer zunehmenden Wettbewerbsorientierung im Bereich schulischer Bildung verbundenen Hoffnungen auf Qualitätssteigerung und verbesserte Chancengleichheit erfüllt werden. Darauf deuten auch die Ergebnisse des in dieser Arbeit dargestellten ethnographischen Forschungsprojektes hin. Die Arbeit erweitert die bisher in Deutschland nur in sehr geringem Umfang vorliegenden qualitativ arbeitenden Fallstudien zu schulwahlbezogenen Wettbewerbssituationen um eine bisher noch fehlende, die Folgen einer aktuellen Schulstrukturreform in den Blick nehmende Studie. Mit dem in dieser Forschungsarbeit entwickelten Konzept der Passungs-Distanz-Konstruktion liegt der Fokus auf der Sozialität der Schulwahl. Das Konzept dient zur Analyse eines zentralen sozialen Mechanismus, der in der untersuchten schulwahlbezogenen Wettbewerbssituation in Berlin erkennbar ist und Anknüpfungspunkte bietet für weitere lokale Fallstudien und Analysen ähnlicher Schwerpunktsetzung. / When choice policies are used to encourage families to choose a specific school and individual schools have to offer themselves as options for this, school choice related competitive situations arise. These can be observed in a variety of international contexts and are now gaining importance in Germany both in primary and secondary education. This thesis examines the competitive situation of school choice in an underprivileged Berlin district following the 2010/11 Berlin school structure reform and analyses it in the context of relevant German language and international research. All in all, the diverse research results that can be associated with the phenomenon of competitive situations related to school choice raise doubts as to whether the educational policy objectives of improvement in quality and equal opportunities associated with an increased competitive orientation in the field of school education will be fulfilled. This is also indicated by the results of the ethnographic research project, the course and results of which were presented in this paper. This work augments the qualitative case studies on school choice related competitive situations that have so far been available in Germany to only a very limited extent, using the example of a Berlin district, to include a study in the most populous German city that has not previously been carried out and that focuses on the consequences of a current school structure reform. With the concept of the fit-distance construction developed on the basis of this example as a central social mechanism recognisable in the school choice related competitive situation under study, it also offers starting points for further local case studies and analysis of similar focal points.

This study explored school choice and school commuting in the town of Ladybrand in the Free State Province. A mixed research method (survey and qualitative interviews) was used. Grade 8 parents from all three public secondary schools in Ladybrand were surveyed. Members of the School Governing Bodies (SGB) and School Management Teams (SMT) were also interviewed. The study found that all three schools are dominated by Black African children, although Ladybrand High (a fee-charging, former Model C, whites-only school), had a multiracial learner profile. Most Black African learners in Ladybrand High came from lower to middle-class working homes in the neighbouring township. Lesotho nationals were also enrolled in this school. Most Ladybrand High learners had parents who are married, financially resourced, educated, and working in skilled or professional jobs. In terms of Lereng Secondary and Sehlabeng Secondary School (both no-fee township schools), most learners hail from poorly educated, single-parent homes, where the parents are either working in semi-skilled or unskilled jobs or are unemployed. None were from Lesotho. Their financial status is weak. These parents said they selected the school based on proximity and low cost, whereas quality of education drove enrolment in Ladybrand High. Thus, the schools in the Ladybrand area demonstrate that class segregation has replaced apartheid race segregation. Learners from Ladybrand High commute using a variety of transport modes, while learners in township schools either use a subsidised government bus or walk – in some cases long distances if they live on neighbouring farms. The township schools complained of poor learner discipline and feeling unsafe due to local gang activities, both of which negatively impact on the functioning of the schools. This was not the case with Ladybrand High. While all the schools offer extra lessons, the two township schools hold extensive extra-lesson sessions and matriculation study camps. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

The Umnini Tribal Authority is a poor, semi-rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, governed by a local chief. This study set out to determine school commuting patterns in relation to school choice and socio-economic status (SES) in the area. Mixed methods were used, involving a parental questionnaire survey, interviews, focus groups and a field audit with photographs. Overall, almost all learners enrolled in the seven 'no-fee' state primary (four) and high schools (three) under study were found to be Black African, IsiZulu speakers, and generally ‘extremely poor’ to ‘very poor’. Most households are headed by single mothers who have completed high school but are unemployed. Most households rely on government social grants to some extent. Most fathers were either absent, poorly educated to uneducated, and far less likely to be employed than the mothers. Children living with both parents, especially where the father was tertiary educated, and the mother employed, fell into the ‘less poor’ and ‘better off than most’ categories. In terms of school choice affordability, good teachers, good school management and proximity to home were the main drivers of enrolment. SES seems to have an impact on the amount of money spent on school lunches and school expenses, although there were some concerning exceptions. Primary school learners walked to school, but many parents pay for monthly transport. Some use the government-subsidised bus. High school learners tended to have longer and less safe journeys to school and back than primary school learners. This is especially true for boy learners, who are targets for criminals, drug addicts and, even worse, school bus drivers. Several challenges face all these learners en route to school every day: crime, unsafe and poor road conditions, roadworthy vehicles, long journeys and rough terrain. Primary school learners often get lost or left behind by their transport drivers. Fortunately, their teachers are actively involved in ensuring their safety and well-being – far more so than their parents, who seldom even know the name of the transport driver, let alone whether the vehicle is appropriate, roadworthy or licenced. High school learners were more likely to live in ‘extremely poor’ to ‘very poor’ households, a possible indicator that financially better-off parents are sending their high school children to schools outside of the area. It is recommended that the local tribal authority, the provincial government, the schools, parents and drivers need to work in unison to make the school commute simpler and safer. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

In the beginning of the 1990s the responsibility for the compulsory schools shifted from the government to the local authorities, a freedom of choice was introduced, and several municipalities brought in a school voucher system. With these changes, the educational system in Sweden went from being one of the world’s most government dominated and unified, to one with a high level of freedom of choice. The overall aim for this study is to explore the interplay between the school choice policy in the compulsory school and the process of integration and segregation on a school level. The aim is also specifically to study to what degree the pupils’ choice of school reflect the schools’ composition, with regards to ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds between 1992 and 2004.The thesis is based on three different kinds of materials; registry data from SCB (Statistics Sweden), the municipality’s data surrounding the school applications, and interviews with civil servants, politicians, and head teachers. In conclusion, the study shows that a divide has emerged between different schools, the make-up of pupils is becoming more homogenous, and the school as a meeting place between different ethnic groups is affected in a negative way. The study also shows that the school choices have an influence on this segregation between the schools. However, there are a small number of exceptions. In certain schools, the ethnic mix of pupils is relatively fair.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Twenty years after the end of apartheid, South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world. Socio-economic polarisation is entrenched by the lack of social capital and interactions across racial and economic divides, blocking pathways out of poverty. This dissertation examines social mobility and cohesion in post-apartheid South Africa by considering three related topics. Chapter 2 of the dissertation examines the impact of school quality on the academic performance of disadvantaged learners as one of the most important enforcing factors perpetuating the social and economic divides. Given the historic racial and economic stratification of the South African public school system, many black children are sent to historically white public schools as a way to escape poverty. Using longitudinal data, this chapter estimates the effect of attending a historically white school on the numeracy and literacy scores of black children. The main challenge is to address the selection bias in the estimates, for which a value-added approach is implemented in order to control for unobserved child-specific heterogeneity. In addition, various household covariates are used to control for household-level differences among children. The results indicate that the attendance of a former white school has a large and statistically significant impact on academic performance in both literacy and numeracy which translates into more than a year’s worth of learning. The main finding is robust to various robustness checks. In Chapter 3 the dissertation examines social cohesion by considering the concept of reference groups used in the evaluation of relative standing in utility functions. The chapter develops a model in which various parameters are allowed to enter the utility function without linearity constraints in order to determine the weight placed on the well-being of individuals in the same race group as the respondent versus all the other race groups living in one of three specified geographic areas. The findings suggest that reference groups have shifted away from a purely racial delineation to a more inclusive one subsequent to the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Although most of the weight is still placed on same-race relative standing, the estimates suggest that individuals from other race groups also enter the utility function. The chapter also examines the spatial variation of reference groups and finds evidence that the relative standing of close others (such as neighbours) enter the utility function positively while individuals who live further away (strangers) enter the utility function negatively. Finally, Chapter 4 provides a summary of the dynamics of income in South Africa, using longitudinal household data. Chapter 4 is aimed at separating structural trends in income from stochastic shocks and measurement error, and makes use of an asset-based approach. It first estimates the percentage of individuals who were in chronic poverty between 2010 and 2012 and then estimates the shape of structural income dynamics in order to test for the existence of one or more dynamic equilibrium points, which would be indicative of the existence of a poverty trap. The findings do not provide any evidence for the existence of a poverty trap. In addition, contrary to earlier findings, the results do not provide evidence for the existence of an asset-based threshold at which the structural income accumulation paths of households bifurcate. Instead, the results seem to indicate the existence of a threshold beyond which structural income remains persistent with very little upward mobility. The robustness of the results is confirmed by making use of control functions in order to correct for any measurement error which may exist in the data on assets. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Twintig jaar nadat apartheid beëindig is word Suid-Afrika steeds as een van die wêreld se mees ongelyke lande gekenmerk. Sosio-ekonomiese polarisasie word verskans deur die gebrek aan sosiale kapitaal en interaksies tussen rassegroepe en ekonomiese klasse, wat lei tot die versperring van roetes uit armoede. Hierdie proefskrif bestudeer sosiale mobiliteit en samehorigheid in post-apartheid Suid- Afrika deur middel van drie verwante onderwerpe. Hoofstuk 2 van hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die impak van skoolkwaliteit op die akademiese prestasie van benadeelde leerders as een van die belangrikste faktore wat huidige sosiale en ekonomiese skeidings afdwing. Gegewe die historiese verdeling van die openbare skoolstelsel volgens ras en ekonomiese status, word heelwat swart kinders na historiese blanke skole gestuur ten einde armoede te ontsnap. Deur gebruik te maak van paneeldata word die impak van skoolbywoning van ’n historiese blanke skool op die geletterheid van swart kinders - in beide wiskunde en Engels - beraam. Die grootste uitdaging is om enige sydigheid in die beramings aan te spreek, waarvoor daar van ’n waarde-toevoegings inslag gebruik gemaak word ten einde te kontroleer vir enige individuele heterogeniteit. ’n Verskeidenheid kontroles op die vlak van die huishouding word gebruik ten einde te kontroleer vir verskille tussen kinders uit verkillende huishoudings. Die resultate dui daarop dat bywoning van ’n historiese wit skool ’n groot en statisties beduidende impak op die akademiese prestasie van beide wiskundige asook litterêre geletterdheid het, wat omgeskakel kan word in meer as ’n jaar se leerwerk. ’n Verskeidenheid verifikasie toetse bevestig die geldigheid van die resultate. Hoofstuk 3 van die proefskrif bestudeer sosiale samehorigheid deur die samestelling van verwysingsgroepe in die evaluasie van relatiewe posisionering in nutsfunksies te oorweeg. Die hoofstuk ontwikkel ’n model waarin verskeie parameters sonder liniêre beperkings in die nutsfunksie toegelaat word ten einde die gewig te beraam wat geplaas word op die welstand van individue in dieselfde rasgroep as die respondent teenoor al die ander rasgroepe wat in een van drie gespesifiseerde geografiese areas woon. Die bevindings dui daarop dat, na die land se eerste demokratiese verkiesings in 1994, die definiering van verwysingsgroepe weggeskuif het van ’n verdeling volgens ras na ’n meer inklusiewe definisie. Alhoewel meeste van die gewig steeds geplaas word op relatiewe posisionering teenoor individue van dieselfde ras, dui die beramings daarop dat individue van ander rassegroepe ook ingesluit word in die nutsfunksie. Die hoofstuk beoordeel ook die ruimtelike variasie van verwysingsgroepe en bevind dat die relatiewe posisionering van nabye individue (soos byvoorbeeld bure) die nutsfunksie positief beïnvloed terwyl individue wat vêr weg woon (vreemdelinge) die nutsfunksie negatief beïnvloed. Hoofstuk 4 van die proefskrif sluit af met ’n opsomming van die inkomste dinamika in Suid-Afrika, deur gebruik te maak van paneelhuishoudingdata. Die laaste hoofstuk mik om die strukturele tendens in inkomste van enige stogastiese skokke en metingsfoute te isoleer en maak gebruik van ’n bate-gebasseerde inslag. Dit beraam eerstens die persentasie van individue wat in kroniese armoede verkeer het tussen 2010 en 2012 en beraam dan die vorm van die strukturele inkomste dinamika. Dit word gedoen ten einde vir die bestaan van een of meer dinamiese ekwilibrium punte te toets, wat aanduidend sou wees van die bestaan van ’n armoedestrik. Die bevindings bied nie enige bewyse vir die bestaan van ’n armoedestrik nie. Ook bied die resultate geen bewyse vir die bestaan van ’n bategebasseerde drempel waar die strukturele inkomste akkumulasieroetes van huishoudings vertak nie, in teenstelling met vorige resultate. In plaas daarvan, blyk die resultate te dui op die bestaan van ’n drempel waarna strukturele inkomste volhardend bly met baie min opwaardse mobiliteit. Die geldigheid van die resultate word bevestig deur gebruik te maak van kontrolefunksies ten einde te korrigeer vir enige metingsfoute wat moontlik in die data van bates mag bestaan.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Syftet med denna studie är att förklara varför en segregerad skola läggs ner och vad som händer med elever som ofrivilligt möter en ny skolkultur. Jag vill förtydliga de politiska besluten som legat till grund för förändringen och vilka konsekvenser beslutet får för eleverna. Syftet är också att belysa vilken betydelse en annan skolkultur med ett inkluderande arbetssätt har för de elever som tvingas byta skola mitt under högstadiet.   Som kvalitativ metod för datainsamling har jag valt intervjuer med ansvariga politiker samt med ett antal elever som tvingats byta skola. Dessutom har jag gjort uppföljningar av trivselenkäter och betygsresultat för de berörda eleverna jämfört med de elever i samma årskurs som inte gått på mottagande skola under hela högstadiet.   Politikernas avsikt med att lägga ner skolan var att bryta segregationen och de sjunkande elevresultaten. Man ville också, via en omläggning av flera verksamheter, använda de nyrenoverade lokalerna bättre. Lyckades man då med sitt beslut? Resultatet visar att betygsresultaten förbättrades för de elever som bytt skola, t o m mer än för eleverna i referensgruppen. Eleverna säger att de känner sig välkomna på den nya skolan, de uppskattar framförallt lärarna och tycker att undervisningen är bättre. Men de får inte så många nya vänner och flera säger att de längtar tillbaka till sin gamla skola.   Utifrån studiens resultat kan vi dra följande slutsatser. Politikerna lyckades med sin avsikter och känner sig nöjda med beslutet flera år senare, även om man erkänner att det funnits brister i informationen. Att lägga ner en skola är både ovanligt och äventyrligt. Ur ett elevperspektiv är det inte optimalt att tvingas byta skola mitt under högstadiet. Även om det går bra för deras resultat blir den nya skolan aldrig riktigt deras. / The purpose of this study is to explain why a public high school in Växjö, Sweden, dealing with issues of segregation and falling results, closed down and what happened to the students who involuntarily had to change schools and meet a new school culture. I want to clarify the politicians’ reasons that formed the basis for the decision and the consequences of the decision for the students. The study also aims to highlight the importance of a school culture with an inclusive approach for students who are forced to change schools in the middle of high school.   As qualitative methods for data collection, I have chosen interviews with the politicians and a number of the affected students. Additionally, the students’ results and their well-being (as expressed by the students themselves in surveys) after changing schools were followed and compared to a reference group of students in the same grade who also hadn’t been attending the receiving school from the start of high school.   The politicians’ intent when deciding to close down the school was to break the segregation and the long-term trend of falling results. Moreover, they wanted to improve the usage of some newly renovated facilities through a reorganization of several activities. So, did the politicians achieve what they hoped when drafting this unusual and risky decision? In this study, I show that the affected students improved their grades, their improvement being even larger than the students in the reference group. Additionally, students expressed through the surveys that they felt welcome in the new school, that they appreciated the teachers and found the teaching in their new school better than previously. However, they also expressed troubles making new friends and some were longing to return to their old school.   My conclusions from this study are the following: The politicians succeeded with their intentions and feel satisfied with the decision several years later, although acknowledging that there had been shortcomings regarding the information they distributed to the students and their parents. From a student perspective, it is not optimal to have to change schools in the middle of high school. Even though they improved their grades after the change, they never felt completely at home in their new school.

The aim of the thesis entitled Ninth grade primary school students in the town of Roudnice and their choice of the further course of education is to describe the factors that influence one's course of education, especially the choice of upper secondary educational institutions they decide to study, and empirically map this issue within the town of Roudnice. The theoretical part is divided into chapters according to factors that significantly influence students' choice of educational institutions during the ninth year of primary school. These factors are following: socio-economic background, family and gender, as well as psychological and developmental aspects of adolescence, during which the choice of a secondary school tends to be realized. These categories are then introduced through Czech and foreign researches. We also look at the transition between the lower and upper secondary education in terms of legislation and career counselling. The main part of the thesis is the empirical part, which includes a detailed description of our quantitative research and data analysis. The aim of the research is to map the decision making process in relation to the choice of the further course of education by Roudnice ninth grade students, or more specifically (1) what the most common characteristics of schools...

Avhandlingen kartlägger och analyserar i fyra empiriska artiklar hur elevsubjekt konstrueras i skolans vardag och vilken roll marknadens principer spelar i dessa konstruktioner. I synnerhet fokuseras vilka logiker som konstituerar gymnasievalets praktiker, samt hur dessa legitimeras, tolkas och utmanas. Resultatet visar att gymnasievalets praktiker delar upp både nuet och framtiden för eleverna, som valet mellan en uttalad utopi eller en underförstådd dystopi, där eleverna i hög grad själva görs ansvariga för att lyckas eller misslyckas med att förverkliga den utopi som iscensätts i valets praktiker. Denna uppdelning framstår för aktörerna till stor del som naturlig och apolitisk, vilket i sin tur legitimerar dess effekter i termer av exkludering, ojämlikhet och segregering, ofta på basis av social klass. Den marknadsstyrda skolans diskurser konstruerar och delar också upp eleverna som om de vore varor med olika värde. Begreppet fantasmatiska logiker kan förklara hur elever greppas av  marknadsliknande diskurser, samt hur de hanterar motsägelsefulla villkor. Exempelvis hur gymnasievalet för eleverna både innebär att förändras och bli vad man vill, samtidigt som man formas att bli mer av den man redan är, genom att välja att vara den man är. Elevernas problematisering och destabilisering av dominerande marknadslogiker i skolan förekommer i alla undersökta sammanhang, och beskrivs i avhandlingen som både genomskådanden och ifrågasättanden av hur skola och utbildning kopplas samman med marknadens logiker. Genom att genomskåda gymnasievalets förmenta neutralitet synliggör eleverna hur marknadsstyrningen av utbildning i allmänhet och iscensättningen av mässorna i synnerhet tycks ligga i skolornas, snarare än elevernas intresse. / The thesis explores and analyzes in four empirical articles how student subjects are constructed in everyday school life and what role market principles play in these constructions. In particular, it focuses on the logics that constitute upper secondary school choice practices, and how these are legitimized, interpreted and challenged. The results show that upper secondary school choice practices divide the present and the future of the students as the choice between an explicit utopia and an implied dystopia. Here, the students themselves are made responsible for their success or failure in realizing the utopia that is staged in school choice practices. This division generally appears to the actors as natural and apolitical, which in turn legitimizes its effects in terms of exclusion, inequality and segregation, often on the basis of social class. Furthermore, the market-driven school discourses construct and divide the students as if they were commodities of different value. The notion of fantasmatic logics can explain how students are gripped by market-driven discourses and how they handle contradictory conditions. For instance, it explains how, for students, school choice means they can transform and become who they want to be, while at the same time they can also become more of what they already are, by choosing to be who they are. Students, however, problematize and destabilize dominant market logics in the school in all examined contexts, which in the thesis is analyzed in terms of penetrations and destabilizations of how schools and education are linked to the market logics. By penetrating the presupposed neutrality of secondary school choice practice, the students expose how the market orientation of education in general and the staging of school fairs in particular appear to be in schools’, rather than students’, interest.

School choice is a fast growing alternative to traditional public school education across the nation. According to the Florida Department of Education, school choice policies and laws are rapidly moving Florida away from more traditional forms of schooling toward an increasingly evolving school choice state landscape. The purpose of this study was to examine school choice in Florida by investigating the school choice policies enacted by the Florida legislature leading to the school choice environment in Florida today. Specifically, this investigation was limited to legislation in Florida between 1997 and 2014 and further limited to charter schools, home schooling, virtual education, and two choice options specific to Florida in which public dollars follow students to private schools, the Tax Credit and McKay Scholarship programs. These particular school choice options were chosen as the focus of this study because they change the where of education outside of tradit ional public schools. Other choice options such as magnet schools, inter-district choice, and intra-district choice simply move students among traditional public schools but keep them enrolled in traditional public schools. Ultimately the study hoped to provide a possible road map for the future of school choice policies in Florida. This study utilized a qualitative methodology utilizing document reviews and interviews. This study found that school choice policies in Florida have continued to expand and evolve over the years to increase the liberty available to families to choose the education of their children. This study also found that the Florida legislature has laid the groundwork for Florida school districts, through a focus on equality, to take advantage of a portfolio management model to increase student achievement. Although a focus on equality led to the enactment of various school choice options, some of these options have moved away from their original intent to financially benefit specific organizations and groups. Finally, as reported by Holme, Frankenberg, Diem, and Welton (2013), Florida's charter school, virtual education, and home education policies have been enacted as race-neutral policies that have no regard for diversity, which could lead to resegregation. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection