School Choice, School Markets and Children’s Urban Socialization

Abstract

Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with parents (n = 88) living in two socially mixed areas of Paris (France) and Milan (Italy), this chapter aims to extend and enrich the understanding of urban education by highlighting the relation between children’s schooling experiences and their urban socialization. The purpose is to shed light on the urban outcomes of children’s schooling experiences, and have a closer look at the phenomenon in terms of social class and inequality. Children’s acquisition of urban skills (in particular with regard to the autonomous use of public transportation), social mixing in schools, construction of social networks and the proximity/distance from home to the neighbourhood of the school, were compared in the two case-cities. School as an institution not only produced educational inequalities, but also spatial inequalities, especially in relation with school choices. The urban outcomes of school choice for children (and parents) are widely considered. On the other hand, the role played by institutional and socio-cultural contexts in shaping children’s urban socialization was investigated through comparing families in Paris and Milan. In particular, school choice policies may play a central role in producing the social differentiation in urban socialization. Taking into account the local welfare configurations (i.e. the way families, the State and the market interact), this chapter suggests the spatial dimension of parental educational strategies to be weaker in Milan, whereas the very competitive school market reinforces social differentiation in Paris.