This paper examines the interplay between parents' interpretations of the laws surrounding primary school enrolment and their formation of strategies to ensure enrolment at their desired schools in an inner-city district in Berlin, Germany. It is based primarily on data collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The paper argues that parents interpret the laws surrounding the role of catchment areas in different ways and are able to justify their actions based on these interpretations. Finally, it examines the institutional side of school allocation, arguing first that although headteachers officially do not have the power to decide whether applications are accepted or not, they often cast the deciding vote and, secondly, that the system is kept intentionally non-transparent, to maintain flexibility.
References
1.
Adler, M. and Raab, G.M. (1988) Exit, choice and loyalty: the impact of parental choice on admissions to secondary school in Edinburgh and Dundee, Journal of Education Policy, 3(2), pp. 155-179.
2.
Bagley, C., Woods, P.A. and Glatter, R. (2001) Rejecting schools: towards a fuller understanding of the process of parental choice, School Leadership and Management , 21(3), pp. 309-325.
3.
Ball, S.J. (2003) Class Strategies and the Education Market: The Middle Classes and Social Advantage. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
4.
Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1966/1976) The Social Construction of Reality . Harmondsworth: Penguin.
5.
Bezirksamt Tempelhof-Schoneberg (2004) Schulentwicklungsplan für den Bezirk Tempelhof-Schöneberg von Berlin . Bezirksamt Tempelhof-Schoneberg von Berlin, Berlin .
6.
Bezirksamt Tempelhof-Sch6Neberg (2005) Spaziergange durch den Bezirk (http://www.berlin.de/ba-tempelhof-schoeneberg/derbezirk/spaziergang/index.html; accessed 19 January 2006).
7.
Böhme, C., Becker, H., Meyer, U. ET AL. (2003) Handlungsfelder integrierter Stadtteilentwicklung , in: Deutsches Institut Für Urbanistik (Ed.) Strategien für die Soziale Stadt, pp. 99-147. Berlin : Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik.
8.
van Breenen, K., de Jong, U., de Klerk, L. ET AL. (1991) Etnische Scheidslijnen in het Amsterdamse Basisonderwijs, een Keuze?Amsterdam: Gemeente Amsterdam.
9.
Butler, T. (1996) People like us: the gentrification of Hackney in the 1980s, in: T. Butler and M. Rustin (Eds) Rising in the East: The Regeneration of East London, pp. 81-107. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
10.
Butler, T. and Robson, G. (2003) London Calling: The Middle Classes and the Remaking of Inner London. Oxford: Berg.
11.
Chibnall, S. and Saunders, P. (1977) Worlds apart: notes on the social reality of corruption , The British Journal of Sociology,28(2), pp. 138-154.
12.
Clark, W.A.V., Dieleman, F. and de Klerk, L. (1992) School segregation: managed integration or free choice?, Environment and PlanningC, 10, pp. 91-103.
13.
Denessen, E., Sleegers, P. and Smit, F. (2001) Reasons for school choice in The Netherlands and in Finland. Occasional Paper. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York ( http://www.ncspe.org/publications_files/204-OP24.pdf ; accessed 25 September 2006).
14.
Gewirtz, S., Ball, S.J. and Bowe, R. (1995) Markets, Choice, and Equity in Education. Buckingham: Open University Press.
15.
Harmon-Jonfs, E. and Mills, J. (1999) Cognitive Dissonance: Progress on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology. Washington, DC: APA Books.
16.
Hutton, W. (2002) The World We're In. London: Little, Brown.
17.
John, T. (2004) Zum Schulanfang 2004: Wissenswertes über die Berliner Grundschule. Zum Schulanfang. Senatsverwaltung fur Bildung, Jugend und Sport, Berlin ( http://www.senbjsberlin.de ; accessed 24 February 2004).
18.
Köhler, R. (2006) So funktioniert die freie Wahl der Grundschule, Berliner Morgenpost (http://www.morgenpost.de/content/2006/11/10/berlin/864901.html; accessed 23 January 2007).
19.
Kozol, J. (1992) Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools . New York: Harper Collins.
20.
Kristen, C. (2005) School Choice and Ethnic School Segregation: Primary School Selection in Germany. Munster: Waxmann.
21.
Lucey, H. and Reay, D. (2002) Carrying the beacon of excellence: social class differentiation and anxiety at a time of transition, Journal of Education Policy, 17(3), pp. 321-336.
22.
Luft, S. (2006) Abschied von Multikulti: Wege aus der Integrationskrise . Grafelfing: Resch.
23.
Merton, R.K. (1949/1968) Social Theory and Social Structure . New York: The Free Press.
24.
Narodowski, M. (2002) Socio-economic segregation in the Argentine education system: school choice without vouchers, Compare: A Journal ofComparative Education, 32(2), pp. 181-191.
25.
Noreisch, K. (2007) School catchment area evasion: the case of Berlin, Germany, Journal of Education Policy, 22(1), pp. 69-90.
26.
Oecd (Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development) (1995) Governance in transition: public management reforms in OECD countries. OECD, Paris.
27.
Oecd (2004) What makes school systems perform? Seeing school systems through the prism of PISA ( http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/30/24/33858946.pdf; accessed 27 March 2006).
28.
Oria, A., Cardini, A., Ball, S. ET AL. (2007) Urban education, the middle classes and their dilemmas of school choice, Journal of Education Policy , 22(1), pp. 91-105.
29.
Paffhausen, J. (2005a) Ausländer in Berlin 2004-eine kleinraumliche Betrachtung. Berliner Statistik-Monatsschrift, Statistisches Landesamt Berlin (http://www.statistik-berlin.de/home.htm; accessed 12 June 2006).
30.
Paffhausen, J. (2005b) Regionale Entwicklung der Einwohnerzahl in Berlin 2000 bis 2004. Berliner Statistik-Monatsschrift, Statistisches Landesamt Berlin ( http://www.statistik-berlin.de/home.htm; accessed 12 June 2006 ).
31.
Paffhausen, J. and Radder, S. (2005) Bevölkerung. Berliner Statistik-Monatsschrift, Statistisches Landesamt Berlin (http://www.statistik-berlin.de/home.htm ; accessed 12 June 2006).
32.
Pahl, R.E. (1975) Whose City? And Further Essays on Urban Society . Harmondsworth: Penguin.
33.
Parsons, E., Chalkley, B. and Jones, A. (2000) School catchments and pupil movements: a case study in parental choice, Educational Studies, 26(1), pp. 33-48.
34.
Rangvid, B.S. (2006) Living and learning separately? Ethnic segregation of school children in Copenhagen. Working Paper, AKF, Copenhagen (http://www.akf.dk/udgivelser/workingpaper/2006/pdf/04_living_learning.pdf ; accessed 15 March 2006).
35.
Raveaud, M. and van Zanten, A. (2007) Choosing the local school: middle class parents' values and social and ethnic mix in London and Paris , Journal of Education Policy, 22(1), pp. 107-124.
36.
Reay, D. (1998) Class Work: Mothers' Involvement in their Children's Primary Schooling. London: UCL Press .
37.
Reay, D. (2001) Finding or losing yourself? Working-class relationships to education, Education Policy, 16(4), pp. 333-346.
38.
Reay, D. and Lucey, H. (2003) The limits of 'choice': children and inner city schooling, Sociology, 37(1), pp. 121-142.
39.
Robson, G. and Butler, T. (2001) Coming to terms with London: middle-class communities in a global city, The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 25(1), pp. 70-86.
40.
Saporito, S. and Lareau, A. (1999) School selection as a process: the multiple dimensions of race in framing educational choice, Social Problems, 46(3), pp. 418-439.
41.
Saunders, P. (1975) They make the rules: political routines and the generation of political bias, Policy and Politics, 4(1), pp. 31-57.
42.
Senatsverwaltung Für Bildung Jugend Und Sport ( 1980) Schulgesetz für Berlin in der Fassung vom 20. August 1980 (GVBI. S.2103), zuletzt geändert durch Gesetz vom 4. Juli 2002 (GVBI. S. 186) . Senatsverwaltung fur Bildung, Jugend und Sport.
43.
Senatsverwaltung Für Bildung Jugend Und Sport ( 2004) Schulgesetz für das Land Berlin vom 26. Januar 2004 (GVBI 26). Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Sport.
44.
Silverman, D. (1970/1983) The Theory of Organizations: A Sociological Framework. London: Heinemann.
45.
Statistisches Landesamt Berlin (2005a) (http://www.statistik-berlin.de/home.htm; accessed 6 December 2005).
46.
Statistisches Landesamt Berlin (2005b) Berliner Statistik-Datenangebot aus dem Mikrozensus im März 2004. Statistisches Landesamt Berlin (http://www.statistik-berlin.de/home.htm; accessed 16 January 2007).
47.
Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
48.
Taylor, A. and Woolard, L. (2003) The risky business of choosing a high school, Journal of Education Policy, 18(6), pp. 617-635.
49.
Taylor, C. (2001) Hierarchies and 'local' markets: the geography of the 'lived' market place in secondary education provision, Journal of Education Policy, 16(3), pp. 197-214.
50.
Vincent, C., Ball, S.J. and Kemp, S. (2004) The social geography of childcare: making up a middle-class child, British Journal of Sociology of Education , 25(2), pp. 229-244.
51.
Whitty, G. (2001) Education, social class and social exclusion, Education Policy, 16(4), pp. 287-295.
52.
van Zanten, A. (2003) Middle-class parents and social mix in French urban schools: reproduction and transformation of class relations in education, International Studies in Sociology of Education, 13(2), pp. 107-123.
