Primary school segregation in the context of free primary school choice – More than just a reflection of residential segregation?

A city’s primary school segregation is closely related to its residential segregation. However, in education systems that allow primary school choice, parental behaviour often boosts school segregation beyond the segregation determined by the families’ place of residence. Taking up previous research, the paper starts by addressing the extent to which parental choice impacts school segregation in a large German city in North Rhine-Westphalia, a German federal state where primary school choice was introduced several years ago. It goes on to analyse which school characteristics are of importance for parents not wishing their children to attend the nearest school, thus boosting school segregation. In doing so, data is used that allows the precise determination of the extent to which children do not attend their nearest school and under which conditions. It becomes clear that, in addition to residential patterns, parental school choice is a significant driver of the uneven distribution of pupils, with the decisions of middle- and upper-middle-class parents particularly contributing to the socio-economic segregation of schoolchildren. A look at various forms of ethnic and religious segregation reveals ambivalent results, inter alia a high level of segregation of Muslim children.