Conference Program

With the advent of globalisation, many European cities are undergoing accelerated social and urban change, with urban gentrification emerging as a key process. In education, while early research showed that middle-class families historically tended to opt out of local schools in gentrifying areas, more recent studies reveal a shift in these patterns. In gentrified environments, some middle-class families are becoming increasingly inclined to enrol their children in local schools, driven by progressive narratives (Posey-Maddox et al., 2014; Freidus, 2019). However, less is known about how their arrival is experienced by school actors and how it translates into different logics of action (Van Zanten, 2009).

This paper aims to address this gap with a focus on Barcelona, a city encompassing areas with a strong presence of urban gentrification (López-Gay et al., 2021), where the controlled choice system enables strategic behaviour within and beyond school choice. Adopting a qualitative approach, the study explores how gentrification processes affect school perceptions and logics of action. More specifically, it draws on a comparative case study of six public primary schools that have recently undergone substantial transformations linked to sharp urban changes. School rationalities are examined through the cross-analysis of semi-structured interviews with teachers and school leaders, as well as observations during schools’ open days.

Based on school actors’ narratives, three drivers of educational change are identified, which vary across cases in both nature and influence. First, educational policies, operating both as constraints and catalysts for changes in school composition. Second, surrounding urban transformations, generally shaping opportunity structures for school change. Third, schools themselves, promoting various internal and external strategies aimed at triggering specific educational changes.

In this regard, the paper identifies three main perceptions through which school actors interpret the arrival of ‘gentrified’ families. First, these families are seen as the “desired” profile by schools experiencing low or declining middle-class enrolment despite their growing local presence. Second, schools that have strategically pushed for and increased middle-class enrolment often frame new families as “saviours” of the school. Finally, schools that receive this profile more passively tend to perceive them as “intruders”, particularly when friction arises around intense forms of parental participation.

These perceptions connect with particular logics of action, which are strongly shaped by the nature and intensity of schools’ attraction of this new population. One logic, “resistance” -often coupled with sense of loss and nostalgia-, occurs when schools perceive declining middle-class appeal and are compelled, primarily by policy mandates, to include more disadvantaged students. Another, “accommodation”, emerges in those schools that, primarily due to urban shifts, experience increased enrolment and participation from new middle-class families. A third, “conversion”, arises when schools actively implement consistent strategies to promote themselves, attracting the attention of more affluent families and embracing transformation as a successful result of school renewal efforts.

In conclusion, public schools perceive change in varied ways and develop diverse logics of action within gentrifying contexts. These findings reflect schools’ agency and their capacity to interpret and respond to structural constraints, while also shaping educational dynamics.