The new Other Catalans at school: decreasing unevenness but increasing isolation

This study estimates the trends of school segregation in Catalonia (Spain) between 2001 and 2006. Currently, new immigration has reopened the debate about the ‘Other Catalans’ triggered by concern with the integration of the incoming population. An ‘intersectional approach’ to social divisions suggests that class and ethnic school segregation responds to strategic parental choice and informal policy arrangements. School segregation indices report a more even distribution in most localities, reinforced isolation of ‘foreign students’ in a few public schools in some large cities and a persistent divide between more comprehensive public schools and selective private-dependent schools in a variety of towns. According to these findings, the analytical approach points at some clues to make sense of impact of distributive policies, the influence of policy contradictions and the success of mobilisation and lobbying political strategies.