School choice and socio-cultural fitting. School choice, school quality and school types within the German school system with special reference to private schools.

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Sabine Gruehn; Professor Dr. Thomas Koinzer
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 258445726

Over the last 10 years the German school system faces a continuous increase of private schools. Between 2001 and 2011 the share of private schools has risen from 5.8% to 8.5%. Also the proportion of pupils has increased during this period to 9.8% and has almost doubled. The reasons for the attractiveness of private schools are largely unknown. Perceived deficits of public schools are well accepted as processes of distinction of specific social milieus too. To answer these questions the study will examine the school choice motives of private school parents in comparison with public school parents in the light of their socio-cultural milieu and the perceived and articulated features of school quality. The aim is, within a theoretical frame of the habitus concept of Bourdieu and rational choice approaches, first to evaluate why and how parents chose schools. The second aim is, with the particular emphasis on private schools, to situate parents or milieus within a typology of different private schools (e.g. religious, international, alternative) and to evaluate how different social milieus fit to different types of private schools. Furthermore the project will assess the structures and conditions how the different (private) schools on their part fit to the different choosing social milieus. The central research questions are 1) whether and how parents or distinct social milieus choose private or public schools for their children and which does not? How do they justify their choice in the context of the perceived quality of the school? 2) With particular emphasis on private schools: What are the different types of private schools that can be determined respectively the habitual and socio-cultural characteristics of the parents? What is the part of the schools themselves to fit to the parents / children or social milieu? How do the schools refine the relationship to the choosing social milieu? Which educational, religious or social self-concepts construct the dual fitting? Can such a construct of fitting be localized within the public school system too and how do private schools encourage competition and social segregation within the whole school system? The study will focus on the school choice motivations in elementary schools in Berlin. Quantitative and qualitative methods of survey from parents as well as school principals are used.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants