Over the past decade, the widespread adoption of the Affelnet system for the automated allocation of pupils and the relaxation of the School catchment area (map) rules have profoundly altered the way pupils are allocated to schools after Year 9. This Note highlights that the procedures implemented in the Île-de-France education authorities to manage allocation after middle school / lower secondary school have a decisive influence on the social and academic composition of state upper secondary schools. Although the social segmentation of upper secondary schools (based on parents’ socio-occupational status) is generally higher in Paris than in the Créteil and Versailles education authorities, the definition of very broad catchment areas for Parisian sixth-form colleges and the introduction of a specific bonus for pupils receiving grants are two factors that have contributed significantly to increasing social diversity in the capital’s general and technological sixth-form colleges. Conversely, the significant weight given to academic results in the Parisian allocation system explains why the academic segmentation of secondary schools (based on Year 9 results) is much higher there than in the rest of the Île-de-France region. Within the limits imposed by the geographical, social and behavioural constraints that largely determine their effects, allocation procedures therefore appear to be powerful levers for influencing the social and academic mix within the education system.
Can we increase the social and academic mix within the education system?
The study on which this note is based provides an evaluation of the extent to which the school allocation procedures introduced in the Île-de-France education authorities over the past decade have changed the composition of the region’s secondary schools.
Reference IPP Policy Brief No. 11
Presentation
Key Results
- Whilst in the Créteil and Versailles school authorities, the criterion of geographical proximity remains decisive for allocation to general and technological sixth-form colleges, the Paris school authority adopted, at the start of the 2008 academic year, a system of regulated school choice within large school catchment areas
- In Paris, the introduction of the ‘scholarship’ bonus has facilitated access for socially disadvantaged pupils to the most sought-after general and technological upper secondary schools and has helped to increase social diversity in the capital’s state upper secondary schools
- Conversely, the weighting given to marks in the Parisian allocation system explains why school segregation in upper secondary schools is significantly higher there than in the Créteil and Versailles education authorities
