The aim of this paper is to analyze recent changes in the organization of secondary school in some countries from Latin America and Europe and its relationship in each case with historical processes of segmentation of the educational supply. An analysis of the process of segmentation is relevant due to its historical association with the expansion of schooling, on the one hand, and with the unequal distribution of educational supply, on the other. Such analysis is also pertinent due to its contribution as a potential category of comparison.

Our argument revolves around the existence of problems common to Western educational systems specifically in relation to the expansion of secondary schools and their institutional model. We identify three aspects pertinent to the emergence of this problem. The first is related to changes in economic structure and the labour market, and their effect on the expansion of schooling (training of human resources and/or containment of youth unemployment). The second is bound to demographic transformations, specifically the growth of the young population and the need to expand institutions geared to the social regulation of that population. The third aspect, which is of an institutional systemic nature, is linked to the ways educational systems expanded (the extension of the school trajectories) as well as certain characteristics of the organization of secondary schooling associated with the trouble of ensuring successful school trajectories for all students.

Policies for the expansion of secondary schooling have historically faced problems related to adjusting institutional models to address the new social sectors that have gained access to this level of education. Previous studies (Acosta, 2011a & b; Cowen, 2017) have confirmed the existence of problems common to the Western world as a whole related to the massification of secondary schooling, on the one hand, and its format, on the other: certain characteristics of the organization of secondary school appear to hinder the ability of all students to enjoy successful secondary school trajectories. New policies and reforms grasped the disconnection between mandatory education (forced expansion) and format. In this study, the problem is reformulated in terms of expansion, on the one hand, and the institutional model, on the other.

The analysis of this problem encompasses three dimensions: a historical dimension to understanding processes of passing on discourses and practices as a legacy that gives shape to school institutions (Tröhler & Lenz, 2015); a systemic dimension to understanding the dynamic on the basis of which school practices are structured (specifically, processes of systematization and segmentation, Mueller, 1992; Ringer, 1979 and 1992; Schriewer and Horney, 1992); a dimension tied to the internationalization of education, more specifically, the relationship between the global expansion of transnationally standardized educational models and the persistence of various networks of socio-cultural interconnection (Schriewer, 2002 &, 2011; Caruso and Tenorth, 2011).

These three dimensions are used as the basis for comparison of recent changes in the organization of secondary school in some countries in Latin America and Europe. The comparison encompasses the identification of an international and historical matrix specific to each case and the ways in which that matrix tends to be reshaped with the implementation of contemporary policies. On this basis, the issue of segmentation is compared between different cases in order to identify commonalities and differences in how education systems operate today. The identification of these differences will contribute, in turn, to a better understanding of each case.

For this purpose, the study makes use of secondary sources including historical studies and studies on policies pertaining to each case. It goes over eight programs from four European countries (Spain, Ireland, France and the Netherlands) and three Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay). These programs were implemented in 2000 and are still ongoing. Programs are grouped into two categories of interest for our purposes: programs geared to keeping the school career on track and programs geared to re-enrollment. The former encompasses programs geared to accompanying schooling by means of devices that attempt to bridge the gap between the student and the school organization or institutional model. The latter includes those programs aimed at promoting the re-enrollment of students in the formal educational system in general and in secondary school in particular by means of alternative spaces connected to existing institutions or by means of the creation of new types of educational options. Convergences and divergences between programs are identified. The experiences analyzed attest to different ways of approaching the problem of expanding secondary school and its institutional model, from the perfecting of the modern format of the schooling device to its total (or near-total) alteration.

The study shows that the expansion of secondary school necessarily went hand in hand with policies that, in a first instance, attempted to modify the institutional model to attenuate the effects of educational segmentation and, in a second, were aimed at those who were left out; these policies tended to accentuate processes of institutional differentiation. Therefore, an analysis of policies requires a review of both historical and contemporary forms of educational supply. While the more young people in secondary schools, the better, increased enrollment also presents the challenge of reviewing existing practices since the conditions of schooling—both its academic organization and its forms of teaching—are often exactly what keeps driving new students out. That means reviewing not only the apparatuses of institutional models—a process already underway—but also historical processes of institutional differentiation and its effects on educational segmentation. This kind of analysis could help to shed light on the mechanisms by which education systems produce differentiating educational supplies that have a detrimental effect on inclusion.

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