School segregation in the French Community of Belgium

Abstract

After a brief description of the educational system context, showing that segregation in the French Community of Belgium is fostered by the school quasi-market, this chapter reviews what we know about segregation in the educational system of the French Community of Belgium. Whereas a major part of the research on segregation and political attention are focussed on socioeconomic segregation between schools in secondary education, several types of segregation occur according to social categories (school performance, socio-economic status, language spoken at home, etc.) and types of separation (between schools, between curricula, within schools). Specific policy interventions aiming at tackling segregation are then described. These interventions focus mainly on socioeconomic segregation between schools in secondary education and follow two distinct ways: interventions on school enrolment procedures and interventions on school funding. Finally, these interventions are discussed in terms of feasibility and need of evaluation.