School Choice of Middle-Class Parents and Students in the Context of Neoliberal Policies

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the reasons of school choices of middle-class families and their children within the context of the neoliberal education policies in Turkish education system. The study adopts a qualitative descriptive research approach. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews. The first study group consisted of 22 parents (13 public and 9 private schools). The second study group consisted of 30 students (16 public and 14 private school students) who were middle class, had high enough exit-exam score to be able to choose science high schools in Gaziantep province in the academic year of 2016-2017. The data were analyzed using the descriptive and content analysis techniques. The findings indicated that academic, economic, environmental, personal, social and cultural, religious, politic factors and physical conditions affected middle class parents and students school choices. The multi-factorial features demonstrate that middle-school parents and students are rather cautious and thorough in school selection. An important inference from the findings is that middle-class tends to see education as a re-generational tool serving to hold on to their social status and existence.