Oscar Valiente

The politics of school choice in two countries with large private‐dependent sectors (Spain and Chile): family strategies, collective action and lobbying

In many countries choice of school is an increasing concern for families and governments. In Spain and Chile, it is also associated with a long‐standing political cleavage on the regulation of large sectors of private‐dependent schools. This article analyses both the micro‐ and the macro‐politics of choice in these two countries, where low‐status 15‐year‐old students record a significant segregation. At the micro level, some evidence is provided that not only middle‐class skilful choosers but also the political representatives of private‐dependent schools manage to pursue their interests drawing on economic, social and cultural capital. At the macro level, evidence also shows that the lobbies defending private‐dependent schools can use and maintain these power resources. However, in some episodes collective action is an effective power resource for those who campaign in favour of a stricter regulation of these schools, but its influence is much difficult to maintain for longer periods.

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.

Challenges to the Implementation of Dual Apprenticenships in OECD Countries: A Literature Review

The good economic performance and low levels of youth unemployment in countries with dual vocational education and training (VET) systems have provided good arguments to the advocates of dual apprenticeships as a global role model. Many governments in the Global North have started to show great interest in adopting dual apprenticeships in their own national contexts with the aim of improving the employability of young adults and smoothening transitions from education to work. However, evaluation studies have demonstrated that the transfer of these international good practices to different local contexts is quite problematic, making necessary to understand how different designs of dual apprenticeship programmes interact with the social and economic contexts in which they are implemented, and how social actors react to these interventions. This literature review has systematised international evidence on some of the challenges and dilemmas that governments in OECD countries face when they want to implement large-scale dual apprenticeship programmes. We suggest that the main challenge they face is to make dual apprenticeships attractive to both employers and students. We conclude that the difficulty of reconciling these two goals is one of the main reasons for most of these interventions to remain as small-scale innovations and not reaching the systemic level.

Higher Education in Regional and City Development: Antioquia, Colombia

Despite its “economic miracle” and robust growth for more than a decade, Colombia continues to struggle to overcome social and economic disparities. Third largest country in Latin America in terms of population and fifth largest in terms of area, Colombia is rich in natural resources, but has not created enough jobs for its 46 million strong population. It lags behind Mexico, Chile and Brazil in terms of human capital development, economic diversification, innovation and productivity. In 2010, depending on the definition, up to half of the population (49.5%) lived in poverty. Sustained growth and development are necessary for improving the quality of life of the population, particularly those from lower socio-economic and rural backgrounds. The central government is committed to long term reform to modernise the economy and to expand participation in education at all levels through the “Education Revolution”.