School catchment area evasion: the case of Berlin, Germany

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the ways in which school segregation plays out in a pure catchment area system and to what extent residential composition is directly mirrored in schools. The research examines the data for the districts in Berlin and, more specifically at the school level, for the district of Tempelhof‐Schöneberg. The research is based mainly on secondary data collected from official statistical sources and is supported with data from parental questionnaires and semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with parents, headteachers and key actors. The research shows that school composition is not purely the result of residential patterns but that there is limited room for 'choice'. The most significant result is that there is a high correlation between the movement of German children between catchment areas and the percentage of children who do not speak German in the home attending these schools. The results show the importance of the size of catchment areas and its implications on choice, as well as highlighting important policy implications with regard to the promotion of social mix at schools.