School choice in Chile: From distinction and exclusion to the social segregation of the school system

Abstract

International studies have claimed for many decades the relationship between school choice, social class and social segregation in education systems. In Chile, in contrast, the analysis of parental choice processes, in the context of the high level of social segregation within the school system, have emerged only recently within the research agenda. Within these trends, this paper explores and contrasts the dynamics of school choice of middle and lower classes, from a qualitative perspective. The results question the discursive principles held by advocates of school choice, providing evidence about the processes by which families produce and contribute, by their school choices, to the segregation and stratification of the system, in the context of the specific policy design in which school choice is currently enacted.