School choice and school segregation in the context of gentrifying Amsterdam

Abstract

Changes in the school-aged population due to gentrification can have paradoxical effects on school, choice dynamics and segregation. This article seeks to understand the changing school choice dynamics in gentrifying Amsterdam. Drawing on individual-level geocoded data, this article reveals the school choice of different groups of parents and how they are contingent on social class composition of their residential neighbourhood. It finds that different groups of parents enrol their children in different types of schools even if they live in the same neighbourhoods. This is in large part due to processes of disaffiliation and selective belonging from the part of ‘’white’ middle classes who choose specific schools within and outside of their neighbourhood. Yet, other groups of parents also have their children in schools outside of the neighbourhood thereby contributing to high levels of segregation too. Nonetheless, the article concludes that gentrification paradoxically leads to both greater concentration of highly educated and more mix in other schools.