Learning Together or Apart? Ethnic Segregation in Lower Secondary Schools

Abstract

Whether, or to what degree, minority students are able to learn together with majority peers in schools is among the important context factors for their integration paths. In this chapter we investigate the extent of ethnic segregation in lower secondary schools in the four CILS4EU countries. We demonstrate that there are vast differences in majority exposure at school, both across the four countries as well as across ethnic groups within each country. Further analyses suggest that these group differences may be due to at least three reasons: ethnic differences in residential segregation, in the allocation across different ability tracks as well as ethnically specific school choice preferences. Finally, we show that low levels of majority exposure at school may not always come with a disadvantaged learning environment: in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden schools with low majority shares tend to hold fewer learning-related resources; the opposite seems to apply for schools in England.