Að eiga frjálst val um framhaldsskóla : Markaðsvæðing innritunar nýnema í íslenskum framhaldsskólum

• Árið 1998 tók Menntamálaráðuneytið ákvörðun um að framhaldsskólanám ættiað verða „einn námsmarkaður“ í landinu öllu. Þar með var vikið frá fyrri stefnu umhverfaskiptingu framhaldsskólanna. Tilgangur breytingarinnar var að gera nýnemumkleift að velja sér hvaða skóla sem væri og var talið að brotthvarf myndi minnka ogmetnaður bæði í námi og kennslu aukast þegar nemendur yrðu innritaðir á grundvellieinkunna úr grunnskóla. Markmið þessarar rannsóknar var að kanna afleiðingarupptöku markaðsfyrirkomulags á skólavali fyrir nýnema í framhaldsskólum ogvoru settar fram þrjár rannsóknarspurningar: 1) Hver hafa áhrif markaðsvæðingarinnritunarferlisins verið? 2) Hvaða munur kemur fram milli nemendahópa og milliskóla í umsóknarferlinu við innritun í framhaldsskóla? og loks 3) Hvernig má skiljaniðurstöðurnar í ljósi hugmynda um félagslegt réttlæti? Aðferðafræði rannsóknarinnarer greining á tölfræðigögnum frá Innu og innritunargögnum frá Flensborgarskólanum.Gögnin frá Innu sýna heila árganga og mynstur í umsóknum um framhaldsskóla eftirtíunda bekk. Innritunargögnin úr Flensborg voru kóðuð svo hægt væri að fylgja eftireinstaklingum í gegnum kerfið en engum persónugreinanlegum upplýsingum varsafnað. Niðurstöðurnar sýna að ákveðinn hópur framhaldsskóla hefur sterka stöðu áskólamarkaðnum þar sem þeir hljóta stóran hluta umsókna frá nemendum með háareinkunnir. Það þýðir að sumir skólar eiga þann kost að velja til inntöku nemendur semstyrkir síðan aftur samkeppnisstöðu þeirra. Samtímis sýna gögn Flensborgarskólans aðaðrir skólar eru í lakari samkeppnisstöðu og þurfa að taka inn stærri hluta nemendameð lægri einkunnir og flóknari þarfir fyrir stuðning. Ályktun höfunda er að ábyrgðiná námi framhaldsskólanemenda hafi að hluta verið færð frá hinu opinbera yfir á valnemendanna. Einnig er bent á að þótt stjórnvöld geti sagt að stór hluti nemenda (95%)fái annaðhvort fyrsta eða annað val sitt, þá sé ýmislegt sem bendi til að nemendur veljiskóla mjög ígrundað út frá möguleikum um innritun.

• This article discusses the results of a decision taken by the Icelandic government in 1998.The decision was that upper-secondary education should become “a single educationalmarket” in the whole country. In doing so, a policy that required upper secondary schoolsto primarily enrol pupils from particular catchment areas was abandoned. The purposeof the change was to enable presumptive students to choose any school, whether theylived in the geographical vicinity of the school or not. This policy was also believed todecrease drop-out rates, increase pupil engagement in learning, and improve teaching asstudents would be admitted based on grades from elementary school. The research dataused are statistical registry data from government authorities (INNA) as well enrolmentdata from one upper-secondary school (Flensborg), located in a municipality close tothe capital city of Reykjavík. Using a critical policy perspective on education policy andtheoretical concepts about the marketization of education systems, the study frames theabove-mentioned reform as an example of market rationality in education, following thelogic of decentralisation, privatisation (in a broad sense) and the introduction of schoolchoice as a tool to improve education. Three overarching aims guided the study: toinvestigate the impact of this marketisation of the admission process, to examine whatdifferences there are between student groups and schools in the application process and,finally, how the results can be understood in light of ideas of social justice.The results show that a certain group of upper-secondary schools holds a strong positionin the upper-secondary school market, their brands being particularly strong, leading tothem receiving a large proportion of applications from strong students with high grades.This fact means that they can enrol many students with high grades and fewer with poorgrades, which, in turn, strengthens the schools’ competitive position. At the same time,other schools are in a poorer competitive position and generally enrol a larger proportionof students with lower grades and often with more complex needs for educational support.This means that the competition in the Icelandic upper-secondary education market isnot only between schools trying to attract students to receive resources but also betweenstudents for enrolment into the most popular schools. In some cases, this competitionleads to students strategically choosing upper-secondary schools to be enrolled in rather16Að eiga frjálst val um framhaldsskóla: Markaðsvæðing innritunar nýnema í íslenskum framhaldsskólumthan choosing the schools they prefer. The authors conclude that the responsibility forthe education of secondary school students has been partially privatised to the students’choices, that the competitive ideology of ranking schools according to quality makessome schools “winners” and others “losers”, as well as that the competitive position ofthe schools is not necessarily in the context of the service provided. Also, although thegovernment can say that a large part of students (95%) get either their first or secondchoice, there are many indications that students choose schools strategically based onthe possibilities of enrolment. The consequences can be seen as concerning in light ofprior research on educational marketisation and social justice. As the enrolment systemreinforces hierarchies within the education market, it also reinforces power relationsbetween different societal groups of gender, class and ethnicity. If public schooling isan ideal that aims for equity among students and in terms of the quality of educationalservices provided to students, this development should be of concern to educators andpolicymakers alike.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

upper-secondary schools

marketisation

school choice

social justice

decentralisation

framhaldsskólar

markaðsvæðing

skólaval

félagslegt réttlæti

dreifstýring

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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