Modes of Grouping Students, Segregation and Educational Inequalities. A Longitudinal Analysis of a Cohort of Students in Switzerland

Abstract

The education system in Geneva, Switzerland, offers two organisationally contrasting modes of grouping students in secondary 1 education. Students either belong to schools which run a segmented system (students are grouped into two streams based on their academic level) or a more integrated system, with heterogeneous classes made up of ability groups for some subjects. Using longitudinal data, this article examines the impact of these two modes of grouping students and of within-school segregation on the way students are oriented in secondary 2 education. The results of a multilevel logistic regression analysis show that students attending the segmented system are less likely to be oriented towards a baccalaureate school, the most selective path of secondary 2 education. They also show that the effects of within-school segregation contribute to reinforcing inequalities between students: the likelihood of attending a baccalaureate school is much lower in classes with a high percentage of students from a disadvantaged background. Finally, they show that the negative effects of school segregation tend to be stronger in the segmented system.