Why and how to regulate the education market?

Abstract

Since more than a decade, in several countries, education policies enlarge school choice for parents, either thru the promotion of a quasi-market or the flexibilisation of local schools sectors. This article presents the debates about the effects of the promotion of “market”, concerning segregation and inequalities. Beyond the controversies in the literature, it seems that the combination of choice by parents and pupil’s selectionopportunities for schools lead to more segregation and therefore more social inequalities. However, school districts are also unable to avoid these problems. Moreover, it is important to consider the local factors which favour or impinge these trends. Finally, this paper argues that a coordination of the public regulations (metaregulation) could be a way to regulate more efficiently the negative effects of school choice.