The Effects of a Free School Choice Policy on Parents' School Choice Behaviour

Autor/inn/en	Altrichter, Herbert; Bacher, Johann; Beham, Martina; Nagy, Gertrud; Wetzelhutter, Daniela
Titel	The Effects of a Free School Choice Policy on Parents' School Choice Behaviour
Quelle	In: Studies in Educational Evaluation, 37 (2011) 4, S.230-238 (9 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0191-491X
DOI	10.1016/j.stueduc.2011.12.003
Schlagwörter	Free Schools; School Choice; Family Characteristics; Foreign Countries; Questionnaires; Parent Attitudes; Elementary Education; School Segregation; Racial Composition; Program Implementation; Change Strategies; Educational Change; Policy Analysis; Austria + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Free school; Freie Schule; Choice of school; Schulwahl; Ausland; Fragebogen; Elternverhalten; Elementarunterricht; Lösungsstrategie; Bildungsreform; Politikfeldanalyse; Österreich
Abstract	Recently, European school systems have seen various attempts to "modernise" their governance. Market and competition oriented reforms have not been central to governance innovation strategies in German speaking countries, however, their number and relevance is rising in recent years. A free school choice policy which abolishes "school districts" which legally define fixed school catchment areas was introduced in the school year of 2007/2008 in the Austrian city of Linz. The effects of the implementation of this policy on the primary school sector were studied by a standardised questionnaire administered to a representative sample of 3425 parents of five age groups of primary school children. The return rate was about 55%. By special measures during data collection a satisfactory representation of parents with migrant background was achieved. Three questions are discussed in the paper: (1) Is there a rise in "segregation in schools" as a result of free choice policy? (2) Is there a change in the "composition of the student population in different schools" as a result of free choice policy? (3) Is there a change in "parent school choice behaviour of" as a result of free choice policy? Our data indicates that segregation in primary schools with respect to ethnic and social family characteristics increases after the policy implementation, but the sample size is too small to find significant results. In addition, no significant change is observed in the social composition of schools. In accordance with the previous findings no significant modifications of choice behaviour occur for different ethnic or social groups after free choice. However changes in choice motives can be observed. (Contains 6 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10