The Chilean school system has been considered a pioneer and radical case of a market-oriented education system (Verger et al., 2016), which has resulted in one of the most privatised and segregated school systems worldwide (OECD, 2018). Taking this later issue as a political priority, in 2015 a large-scale reform was launched in order to reduce the high level of school segregation and level the uneven school choice field, through the introduction of new market regulations. Among others, the reform established a new centralised and computational admission system that banned the extensive use of selectivity in school admissions -especially prevailing in private subsidised schools- and incorporated a fairer allocation mechanism (Deferred Acceptance Algorithm). This system, while preserving freedom of choice, has modified the traditional rules of parental choice. In this context, this presentation explores the interpretations and responses of middle- class parents to the new school choice rules, intending to comprehend the sociocultural possibilities and challenges of introducing equity-oriented regulations in a highly marketised school system. In order to do so, we combine a sociological approach to markets in education (e.g., Ball, 2006) and former literature on the responses of middle-class families to equity-oriented policies (e.g., Oakes et al., 1997). Methodologically, we draw on 29 interviews with parents belonging to diverse middle-class fractions, who have chosen a school under the new admission system in Punta Arenas (where the reform began its implementation in 2016). Our findings differentiate 5 types of responses that we ordered on an axis going from resistant to supportive stances, namely, an exclusionary, meritocratic, pragmatic, socially inclusive, and opportunity-focused response. Through this analysis, alongside highlighting a significant resistance to the new market rules based on a decoding of the reform as a powerful threat for parents' class identities and their mobile social trajectories, we uncover a set of nuances in families' interpretations that mirror internal class differentiations, as well as a high degree of ambivalence in their stances. Based on these findings, we discuss the sociocultural complexities of implementing policies intended to balance choice and equity when market values have deeply altered parents’ subjectivities, and we complement previous literature of equity-oriented policies by unravelling the subtle nuances in the stances of middle-class parents toward the reform.

-Ball, S. (2006). Educational reform, market concepts and ethical re-tooling. In S. J. Ball (Ed.), Education policy and social class: The selected works of Stephen J. Ball (pp. 115-129). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. -Oakes, J., Wells, A. S., & Jones, M. (1997). Detracking: The social construction of ability, cultural politics, and resistance to reform. Teachers College Record, 98(3), 483-510. -OECD (2019). Balancing school choice and equity: An international perspective based on PISA. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. -Verger, A., Bonal, X., & Zancajo, A. (2016). Recontextualización de políticas y (cuasi) mercados educativos. Un análisis de las dinámicas de demanda y oferta escolar en Chile. Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas, 24(27), 1-27.