Impact of Religious Primary Schools on Educational Selection and Segregation Mechanism

Author(s):

Janos Zolnay(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 08 C, The Role of Religion in Educational Processes

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-24

09:00-10:30

Room:

W5.13

Chair:

Yvonne Leeman

Contribution

This paper assesses the impact of recently established religious elementary schools on educational selection and segregation mechanism in a region with large population in Eastern Hungary. Since the political change in 1989/1990 it has been crucial question how the non municipal/non state maintained schools, which by definition lack of catchment areas, especially the religious schools provided with financial support from state budget, fit in local education market and what is their role and function.

Extreme selectivity of the Hungarian public educational system has been well known fact for more than fifteen years. The drastic exclusionary turnabout after 2012 launched a new wave of segregation and the establishment of numerous religious schools was undoubtedly has become the most important tool of it. In Hungary church-run religious schools are given additional grants from the state budget. But however, the recently established schools didn’t start to work in vacuum, but in previously formed public educational system instead. These schools have obviously no catchment areas and equal chance principles or regulations can hardly be applicable to them.

This study explores how this trend affected the local educational arenas in predominantly rural area at most with only small towns where public schools having been formerly prestigious, were forced to compete with recently established elite religious schools.The first research question was whether the establishment of religious schools created new selection mechanism and patterns. I also enquire whether religious schools can be regarded as „entrusted agents” of elite groups. Finally I wanted to know whether centralised state maintenance is able to control the process. In wider European dimension it is crucial whether what extent the educational selection destroys chances of disadvantaged stigmatised ethnic groups

Method

I collected the number of all pupils by each school, grade and classes identifying disadvantaged, multiply disadvantaged pupils, and the pupils with special educational needs, pupils with learning difficulties, and pupils estimated as Roma by the schools. Thereafter I identified the catchment area of their residence for each pupil. This database has allowed to drawing the “migration” balance sheet of schools’ catchment areas for each identified pupils’ groups. It also could be described which schools attend commuting pupils (again, for each identified pupils’ group) commuting from certain schools’ catchment areas. I ranked the primary schools based on national competence assessment data (measured annually by the government) that could assess the success and direction of pupils (for each identified pupils’ group) and schools’ bargaining position.The criteria of categories of disadvantaged, multiply disadvantaged pupils, and the pupils with special educational needs, pupils with learning difficulties are statutory. Roma pupils are not registered officially and formally but in fact school principals in every school are exactly aware who are the Roma among their pupils and non-Roma parents also know the ethnic proportions exactly, irrespective of pupils’ self-identification Besides quantitative data collection I also made detailed interviews with school principals about their schools and pupils and about local educational bargaining they are involved in.

Expected Outcomes

As a response to the establishment religious schools, and handing over the maintenance of formerly municipality maintained prestigious primary schools to churches,state maintained attractive primary schools anxious for their prestige, reintroduced the practise of multilevel internal segregation, covering even the preschools. In one small town Roma and non Roma puils were totally separated. Based on survey conducted in two small regions I state the religious schools are the “entrusted agents” of elite groups like municipal/state maintained non Roma attractive schools. Of course these schools require different doctrinal and behavioural adjustment from pupils, parents and from teachers, but there role, function and acceptance are similar to other elite public schools. Public school are convinced that they can compete in case they “release themselves from the bonds from their catchment area” and provide elite groups programmes which enables them to select among applicant pupils (six-seven years old children) at least to the extent religious schools can do it. Partly the church maintained schools are responsible for the unequal distribution of education services and for segregation – but just partly. Basic selection mechanism was shaped, designed. The situation has become worse in the sense that state maintained schools try to compete with religious schools by internal segregation.

References

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Author Information

Janos Zolnay (presenting / submitting)

Civitas Europica Centralis

Budapest

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