Excluded groups in different school spaces of the high school level in Mexico

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the school exclusion that exists in the upper secondary level in Mexico. The work begins with a section aimed at defining and contextualizing what is understood by educational exclusion and the types of exclusion that coexist in school spaces and in the lives of students, in economic, political, social and cultural terms. The second section is based on official sources and presents various indicators about access and equity in upper secondary education in Mexico. A third section is a study carried out with focus groups in various upper secondary schools and investigates the perception that young people have about the processes of school exclusion at this educational level. The results show that educational policies based on scholarship programs have been prioritized in Mexico to keep students in school and expand coverage; however, this has been insufficient. In addition, other groups whose vulnerability is not only economic have been neglected and face other circumstances that cause exclusion, such as disability, speaking or belonging to an indigenous people, or the prevalence of gender inequality. For its part, the study of focus groups shows that the exclusion processes that young people experience within schools are related to aspects such as the perception of insecurity and violence, the way in which adults consider their opinions and the lack of participation spaces.