Conference Program

In the French residence-based school assignment system, where access to public schools is tied to place of residence, one might expect growing social mix in neighbourhoods to lead to more diverse schools. However, this link is disrupted as families can opt out of their assigned public school by enrolling in publicly funded private schools. Recent studies across several French cities consistently indicate that about half of observed middle-school segregation stems from residential sorting, while the remaining half is produced by family school-choice strategies (Boutchenik et al., 2021; Souidi, 2024; Lécuyer et al., 2025).

Changes in the school-aged population associated with gentrification can thus produce different outcomes at school level (Boterman, 2020). We focus on working-class and socially mixed neighbourhoods in the Paris metropolitan area, which have seen an influx of upper-middle-class households yet where growing residential diversity does not translate into changes in the social composition of local public schools. Our quantitative analysis uses individual and aggregate-level data to evaluate the extent and determinants of school choices and to compare the social composition of school catchment areas with that of local public schools. Our results show that private enrollment contributes to a widening gap between residential and school composition.

However, opting out through private education is not specific to gentrifying contexts but is also widespread among upper-class families living in advantaged areas, even when the local public schools remain socially advantaged. This raises questions about what the choice of private school in working-class or mixed neighbourhoods reveals concerning inter-class and inter-ethnic relations (Raveaud & van Zanten, 2006; Oberti, 2007), compared to residential relocation or private enrolment in advantaged contexts. We complement this analysis with semi-structured interviews conducted in a gentrifying municipality.

Finally, our study highlights how school choice operates not only as a response to residential location but also as a driver of it. While some households strategically relocate within preferred catchment areas (Lareau & Goyette, 2014; Owens, 2017; Ramond & Oberti, 2020), access to private schooling may conversely reduce the perceived risks associated with disadvantaged school environments and thereby facilitate upper-middle class settlement in working-class neighbourhoods (Candipan, 2020).

The possibility of opting out of local public schools is therefore not merely a consequence of neighbourhood change but also one of its enabling conditions, with mixed implications for both residential and school segregation.