Magneettikouluja vai eliittikouluja?

Abstract

The connection between urban and school segregation has been identified as a major question in Finnish educational policy. Families’ school choices in basic education are strongly connected to socio-spatial segregation, families’ socio-economic status, and the provision of selective tracks and streams in schools. As a result, the provision of selective schools and selective classes is a major factor shaping the landscape of urban school segregation. We have analyzed whether the geographical placement of selective education in the City of Helsinki can be identified to either ameliorate school segregation through a “magnet school” effect or exacerbate segregation through “elite school” placement. Our results demonstrate that the provision of selective schools and classes in public schools is in general geographically very equally distributed, and as such does not construct a magnet school effect. However, as the placement of private schools has a distinct “elite” pattern, the educational landscape of the city leans towards a slight “elite effect”.