International Association of Educators   |  ISSN: 1949-4270   |  e-ISSN: 1949-4289

Original article | Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research 2019, Vol. 14(1) 75-97

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

Zehra Keser Ozmantar & Dilek Karataşoğlu

pp. 75 - 97   |  DOI: https://doi.org/10.29329/epasr.2019.186.5   |  Manu. Number: MANU-1812-14-0008.R2

Published online: March 22, 2019  |   Number of Views: 309  |  Number of Download: 829


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.

Keywords: school choice, neoliberal policies, parents, middle-class


How to Cite this Article?

APA 6th edition
Ozmantar, Z.K. & Karatasoglu, D. (2019). School Choice of Middle-Class Parents and Students in the Context of Neoliberal Policies . Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 14(1), 75-97. doi: 10.29329/epasr.2019.186.5

Harvard
Ozmantar, Z. and Karatasoglu, D. (2019). School Choice of Middle-Class Parents and Students in the Context of Neoliberal Policies . Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 14(1), pp. 75-97.

Chicago 16th edition
Ozmantar, Zehra Keser and Dilek Karatasoglu (2019). "School Choice of Middle-Class Parents and Students in the Context of Neoliberal Policies ". Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research 14 (1):75-97. doi:10.29329/epasr.2019.186.5.

References
  1. Adnett, N. (2004). Private-sector provision of schooling: An economic assessment. Comparative Education, 40 (3), 385- 399. [Google Scholar]
  2. Ajuwon, M. P. & Bradshaw K. B. (2009). An empirical study on factors influencing parents' school choice. Religion & Education, 36(3), 39-53.  [Google Scholar]
  3. Apple, W. M. (2001). Comparing neo-liberal projects and inequality in education. Comparative Education, 37(4), 409–423. [Google Scholar]
  4. Apple, W. M. (1982). Education and power. Boston: Routledge.    [Google Scholar]
  5. Aratemur-Çimen, C. (2015). Differentiating children through education: School choices and educational practices of middle-class families in neoliberal times (Doctoral dissertation). Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey. [Google Scholar]
  6. Balkan, E. & Öncü, A. (2013). İslami orta sınıfın yeniden üretimi [Reproduction of Islamic middle class]. In N. Balkan, E. Balkan & A. Öncü (Eds.), Neoliberalizm, İslamcı sermayenin yükselişi ve AKP [Neoliberalism, the rise of Islamic capital and AKP]  (pp. 251–290). Istanbul, Turkey: Yordam Kitap. [Google Scholar]
  7. Ball, S. J. (2003a). Class strategies and the education market: The middle classes and social advantage. London: RoutledgeFalmer.  [Google Scholar]
  8. Ball, S. J. (2003b). The risks of social reproduction. London Review of Education, 1(3), 163–175. [Google Scholar]
  9. Belinda M. C., Causey-Konaté, T. M. &. Warner, T. B. (2013) It's Good Enough for Me: The Role of Religion in School Choice in Post-Katrina New Orleans. Religion & Education, 40(2), 155-172. [Google Scholar]
  10. Benson, M., Bridge, G.  & Wilson, D. (2015). School choice in London and Paris – A comparison of middle-class strategies. Social Policy & Administration, 49(1), 24–43. [Google Scholar]
  11. Bernal, J.L. (2005). Parental choice, social class and market forces: The consequences of privatization of public services in education. Journal of Education Policy, 20(6) 779-792. [Google Scholar]
  12. Billingham, C. M. & Kimelberg, S. M. (2013). Middle-class parents, urban schooling, and the shift from consumption to production of urban space. Sociological Forum, 28(1), 85-108.  [Google Scholar]
  13. Bourdieu, P. & Wacquant Loic, J. D. (2003). Reponses. Istanbul: Iletişim Publications. [Google Scholar]
  14. Bourdieu, P. (1986). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]
  15. Bourdieu, P. (1990). In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]
  16. Bourdieu, P. (2006). The forms of capital. In H. Lauder, P. Brown, J. Dillabough & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Education, globalization & social change (pp. 105–118). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]
  17. Boyd, P. G. (2011). A qualitative multiple case study exploring the factors influencing middle class African American parental choice in education in central Alabama (Unpublished PhD thesis). The University of Alabama, Alabama.  [Google Scholar]
  18. Brantlinger, E. A. (2003). Dividing classes: How the middle class negotiates and rationalizes school advantage. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. [Google Scholar]
  19. Burris, V. (1995). The Discovery of the new middle classes. In Vidich, A. J. (Ed.). The new middle class (pp. 15-54). London: Macmillion Press. [Google Scholar]
  20. Central Advisory Council for Education (1966). Plowden Report. London: England. [Google Scholar]
  21. Chang-ho C. J. & Boyatt, E. (2007) Religion, parental choice, and school vouchers in urban parochial cchools: The case of five schools in southern California. Journal of Research on Christian Education, 16(2), 149-179. [Google Scholar]
  22. Cohen-Zada, D. & Sander, W. (2008) Religion, religiosity, and private school choice: Implications for estimating the effectiveness of private schools. Journal of Urban Economics, 64(1), 85-100. [Google Scholar]
  23. Cohen-Zada, D. (2006) Preserving religious identity through education: Economic analysis and evidence from the United States.  Journal of Urban Economics, 60, 372–398. [Google Scholar]
  24. Coleman, J., Campbell, E., Hobson, C, McPartland, J., Mood, A., Veinfall, F., & York, R. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington, DC: Department of Health, Education and Welfare. [Google Scholar]
  25. Crompton, R. (2008). Class and stratification: An introduction to current debates. Oxford: Polity Press. [Google Scholar]
  26. Crook, S. (1999). Ordering risks. In D. Lupton. (Ed). Risk and sociocultural theory: New directions and perspectives (pp. 85-160). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]
  27. Crozier, G., Reay, D. & James, D. (2011) Making it work for their children: white middle-class parents and working-class schools. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 21(3), 199-216. [Google Scholar]
  28. Crozier, G., Reay, D. & James, D. (2011) Making it work for their children: white middle-class parents and working-class schools. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 21(3), 199-216. [Google Scholar]
  29. Crozier, G., Reay, D., James, D., Jamieson, F., Beedell, P., Hollingworth, S. & Williams, K. (2008). White middle-class parents, identities, educational choice and the urban comprehensive school: Dilemmas, ambivalence and moral ambiguity. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29(3), 261–272. [Google Scholar]
  30. Cucchiara, M. B. & Horvat, E. M. (2014). Choosing selves: The salience of parental identity in the school choice process. Journal of Education Policy, 29(4), 486– 509. [Google Scholar]
  31. Dardot, P. & C. Laval (2012). The new way of the world: On neoliberal society.  İstanbul: Bilgi University Press. [Google Scholar]
  32. Devine, F. (2004). Class practices: How parents help children get good jobs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]
  33. Dimaki, K., Kaminioti, O., Kostaki, A., Psarakis, S. & Tsourti, Z. (2005). Educational and occupational preferences of high school students in Greece. Education and Training, 47(6), 432-446. [Google Scholar]
  34. Eğitim Reformu Girişimi [Education Reform Initiative]. (2016). Eğitim izleme raporu 2015-2016 [Education monitoring report 2015-2016]. Istanbul: ERG. [Google Scholar]
  35. Elwell Craig K. (2014). The distribution of household income and the middle class. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.   [Google Scholar]
  36. Eryaman, M.Y. (Ed). (2009). Peter McLaren, education, and the struggle for liberation. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. [Google Scholar]
  37. Foucault, M. (1997). On the government of the living ethics: Subjectivity and truth. P. Rabinow (Ed) (pp: 81-86), New York: The New Press. [Google Scholar]
  38. Foucault, M. (1977). The political function of the intellectual. Radical Philosophy, 17. [Google Scholar]
  39. Foucault, M. (2010). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the College de France 1978-1979. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [Google Scholar]
  40. Foucault, M. (1982). Subject and power. Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777-795. [Google Scholar]
  41. Freidman, M. (1997). Public schools: Make them private. Education Economics, 5(3), 341-344. [Google Scholar]
  42. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Continuum. [Google Scholar]
  43. Garnett, N. S. (2010). Affordable private education and the middle class city. The University of Chicago Law Review, 77(1), 201-222. [Google Scholar]
  44. Garritzmann, J. L. & Seng, K. (2016). Party politics and education spending: challenging some common wisdom. Journal of European Public Policy, 23(4), 510-530. [Google Scholar]
  45. Gibbons, S. & Machin, S. (2003). Valuing English primary schools, Journal of Urban Economics, 53(2), 197–219. [Google Scholar]
  46. Gift, T. & Wibbels, E. (2014). Reading, writing, and the regrettable status of education research in comparative politics, Annual Review of Political Science, 17, 291–312. [Google Scholar]
  47. Gilbert, D. & Kahl. J. A. (1993). The American class structure: A new synthesis. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub. Co. [Google Scholar]
  48. Giroux, H. A. (2008). The promise of critical pedagogy. Istanbul: Kalkedon Publishing. [Google Scholar]
  49. Goldring, E. B. & Phillips, J.R. (2008). Parent preferences and parent choices: The public-private decision about school choice. Journal of Education Policy, 23(3), 209-230. [Google Scholar]
  50. Gorz, A. (2011). L’ımmaterıel. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Publishing. [Google Scholar]
  51. Gottzén, L. (2011). Involved fatherhood? Exploring the educational work of middleclass men. Gender and Education, 23(5), 619-634. [Google Scholar]
  52. Griffith, A. & Smith, D. (2005). Mothering for schooling. New York: RoutledgeFalmer [Google Scholar]
  53. Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses related to achievement. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]
  54. Irwin S. & Elley S. (2012). Parents' hopes and expectations for their children's future occupations. The Sociological Review, 61, 111–130.  [Google Scholar]
  55. Iversen, T. & Stephens, J.D. (2008). Partisan politics, the welfare state, and three worlds of human capital formation. Comparative Political Studies, 41(4–5), 600–37. [Google Scholar]
  56. Jaeger, M. M. (2011). Does cultural capital really affect academic achievement? New evidence from combined sibling and panel data. Sociology of Education, 84(4), 281–298. [Google Scholar]
  57. Jakobi, A.P., Martens, K. & Wolf, K.D. (2010). Education in political science: Discovering a neglected field. Abingdon: Routledge. [Google Scholar]
  58. Jencks, C., Smith, M., Acland, H., Bane, M. J., Cohen, D., Gintis, H., Heyns, B. & Michelson, S. (1972). Inequality: A reassesment of the effect of family and schooling in America. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers. [Google Scholar]
  59. Kapas, M. & Liang, Y. (2009). Sizing up the middle class in developing countries. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 35(5), 133-139. Washington D.C: World Bank. [Google Scholar]
  60. Lareau, A. (1997). Social class differences in family-school relationship: The importance of cultural capital. In A. H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown, & A. S. Wells (Eds.). Education: Culture, economy, society. Newyork, Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]
  61. Lauder, H., Brown, P., Dillabough, J. & Halsey, H. (2006). Introduction: The prospects for education: Individualization, globalization, and social change. In H. Lauder, P. Brown, J. Dillabough & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Education, globalization & social change. (pp 1–70). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]
  62. Leyton, D. & Rojas, T. M., (2017). Middle-class mothers’ passionate attachment to school choice: abject objects, cruel optimism and affective exploitation. Gender and Education, 29(5), 558-576. [Google Scholar]
  63. Maloutas, T. (2007). Middle class education strategies and residential segregation in Athens. Journal of Education Policy, 22(1), 49-68.  [Google Scholar]
  64. Marazzi, C. (2010). Capital and language. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Publishing. [Google Scholar]
  65. May, T. (2012). New entrepreneurs: Foucault and consumtion society. Cogito, 70-71, 96-105. [Google Scholar]
  66. Mcnally, C.P. (2002). Factors influencing family choice of elementary magnet schools for their children. Dissertation Abstracts International, 63(5), 1719-1864. [Google Scholar]
  67. Ministry of National Education (2016). Türkiye’de Suriyeli öğrenciler [Syrian students in Turkey] . Retrieved from http://www.meb.gov.tr/turkiyede-450-bin-suriyeli-ogrenci-egitimgoruyor/haber/12158/tr# [Google Scholar]
  68. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. [Google Scholar]
  69. Molnar, A. (2006). The commercial transformation of public education. Journal of Education Policy, 21(5), 621- 640.  [Google Scholar]
  70. Neumann, I. B. & Sending, O. J. (2010). Governing the global polity: Practice, mentality, rationality. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. [Google Scholar]
  71. OECD (2010). Education at a glance 2010: Country note-Turkey. Paris:OECD. [Google Scholar]
  72. Ohmae, K. (2006). The impact of rising lower middle class population in Japan. Tokyo: Kodan-sha Publishing Company. [Google Scholar]
  73. Ören, E. (2015). Neoliberal yönetimsellik, çalışma ilişkileri ve girişimci özne. [Neoliberal governmentality, labor relations and “entrepreneurs-of-the-self”]. Atatürk University, Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 29(1), 155-169. [Google Scholar]
  74. Assesment, Selection and Placement Center (OSYM) (2017). Lisans yerleştirme sınav sonuçları  [Undergraduate placement exam results].  [Google Scholar]
  75. Power, S. (2001) Missing: A sociology of educating the middle class. In J. Demaine (Ed.) Sociology of education today. Basingstoke: Palgrave. [Google Scholar]
  76. Power, S., Edwards, T. Whitty, G. & Wigfall, V. (2003). Education and the middle class. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press. [Google Scholar]
  77. Prichard, T. G. & Swezey, J. A. (2016). Factors affecting Christian parents’ school choice decision processes: A grounded theory study. Journal of Research on Christian Education, 25(1), 3–24. [Google Scholar]
  78. Rasky, C. L. & Ringrose, J. (2009). Theorizing psychosocial processes in Canadian, middle-class: Jewish mothers’ school choice. Journal of Education Policy, 24(3), 255–269. [Google Scholar]
  79. Raveaud, M. & van Zanten, A. (2007). Choosing the local school: Middle class parents' values and social and ethnic mix in London and Paris. Journal of Education Policy, 22(1), 107–124. [Google Scholar]
  80. Reay, D. & Ball, S. J. (1997). Spoilt for choice: The working classes and educational markets. Oxford Review of Education, 23(1), 89-101. doi: 10.1080/0305498970230108. [Google Scholar] [Crossref] 
  81. Reay, D. & Ball, S. J. (1998). Making their minds up: Family dynamics of school choice. British Educational Research Journal, 24(4), 431–448. [Google Scholar]
  82. Reay, D. (2005). Mothers’ involvement in their children’s schooling: Social reproduction in action? In G. Crozier & D. Reay (Eds.), Activating participation (pp. 23–38). Stoke-on-Trent, UK: Trentham Books. [Google Scholar]
  83. Reay, D., Crozier, G. & James, D. (2013). White middle-class identities and urban schooling. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. [Google Scholar]
  84. Rivkin, S., Hanushek, E., & Kain, J. (2005).  Teachers, schools, and academic achievement.  Econometrica, 73(2), 417-458. [Google Scholar]
  85. Robertson, S. & Dale, R. (2013). The social justice implications of privatisation in education governance frameworks: A relational account. Oxford Review of Education, 39(4), 426–445. [Google Scholar]
  86. Rowe, E. E. & Windle, J. (2012). The Australian middle class and education: a small-scale study of the school choice experience as framed by ‘my school’ within inner city families. Critical Studies in Education, 53(2), 137-151.  [Google Scholar]
  87. Rowe, E. E. (2017). Politics, religion and morals: the symbolism of public schooling for the urban middle-class identity. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 26(1), 36-50.  [Google Scholar]
  88. Rutz, H. J. & Balkan, E. M. (2016). Sınıfın yeniden üretimi: Eğitim, neoliberalizm ve İstanbul’da yeni orta sınıfın yükselişi [Reproducing class: Education, neoliberalism, and the rise of the new middle class in Istanbul] . Istanbul: h20 Press. [Google Scholar]
  89. Sayılan, F. (2006). Küresel aktörler (DB ve GATS) ve eğitimde neoliberal dönüşüm. [Global actors (WB and GATS) and neoliberal transformation in education]. Ankara: Chamber of Jeology Engineers Press.  [Google Scholar]
  90. Stacey, M. (2016). Middle-class parents’ educational work in an academically selective public high school. Critical Studies in Education, 57(2), 209-223.  [Google Scholar]
  91. Turkey Family Structure Survey (TAYA). (2011). Türkiye aile yapısı araştırması tespitler, öneriler  [Turkey family structure survey findings, suggestions]. Ministry of Family and Social Policies, General Directorate of Family and Community Services Publishing: Istanbul. [Google Scholar]
  92. van Zanten, A. (2003). Middle-class parents and social mix in French urban schools: Reproduction and transformation of class relations in education. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 13(2), 107-123. [Google Scholar]
  93. Vincent, C. & Ball, S. J. (2007). Making up the middle-class child: Families, activities and class dispositions. Sociology, 41(6), 1061–1077. [Google Scholar]
  94. Vincent, C., Rollock, N., Ball, S.J. & Gillborn, D. (2012). Being strategic, being watchful, being determined: Black middle-class parents and schooling. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 33(3), 337–354. [Google Scholar]
  95. Vis, B. (2012). The comparative advantages of fs QCA and regression analysis for moderately large-N analyses. Sociological Methods & Research 41(1), 168–98. [Google Scholar]
  96. Woods, P. (1996). Responding to the consumer: Parental choice and school effectiveness. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 4(3), 29-205. [Google Scholar]
  97. World Bank, (2007). Global economic prospects: Managing the next wave of globalization. World Bank: Washington DC. [Google Scholar]
  98. Yamamato, Y. & Holloway, S. D. (2010). Parental expectations and children's academic performance in sociocultural context. Educ Psychol Rev, 22, 189– 214.  [Google Scholar]