Choosing a Language of Instruction in Canada and France: Toward a More Just School Choice Process for Youth

• In Event: 35.081 - Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 35.081-20 - School Choice: Distributional Issues

Abstract

This international comparative study compares school choice policies and practices in Canada and in France. What is more, the study aims to make audible the voices of children in transition between elementary and secondary school who are experiencing the school choice process, in particular, the choice of language of instruction. This critical ethnographic case study research incorporates a set of methodological tools: participant observations, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. This paper's analyses challenge the existing structures in the school, family and national contexts that constrain or enable youth and their families to operationalize the school choice process to their best advantage in the hopes of conceptualizing and putting in place a more just school choice process.

Author

• Megan Cotnam-Kappel, Harvard University