Niche Schooling: Catholic School Choice and Sociospatial Reproduction in a Global City

• In Event: Expanding Public Funds and Advocacy for Religious Schools via School Choice: Cultivating or Curtailing Equity?

Abstract

In the field of sociology of education over the past century, the question of “why” parents choose Catholic (or other faith-based) schools has received considerable attention (Coleman et al., 1982; Davies, 2013; Le & Miller, 2003). While debates over the academic effectiveness of Catholic schools persist, there is a renewed interest in better understanding the patterns of families choosing faith-based schools, especially in light of expanding school choice policies internationally, including school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and public funding. The main objective of this study is to examine the extent to which rapid urban changes in the era of neoliberalism have shaped Catholic school choice in the global city of Toronto, Canada. This study delineates the changing geography of Catholic schools in the context of mass migration, urban polarization, and increasing inequality. Also, it analyzes how Catholic schools have altered their program offerings to remain competitive. Finally, this study discusses the implications of Catholic school choice on social and spatial reproduction in the global city.

To explore the under-examined relationship between Catholic school choice and urban change in the era of neoliberalism, we build on the urban sociology of school choice, which draws from urban sociology, the sociology of markets, and the sociology of school choice. We use a critical mapping of school choice approach, which adopts Critical Geographic Information Systems to map school choice patterns socio-spatially. Three sets of data were employed: (1) the secondary student data (Grades 9-12) from the (publicly funded) Toronto Catholic District of School Board (TCDSB); (2) the school program information from schools’ official websites; and (3) the 2016 Canadian Census data for the city of Toronto and its adjacent areas in order to include information about the neighborhoods where students live.

Our analysis suggests a growing disconnection between Catholic school locations and students’ home locations in the global city. The schools remain in their historical locations in the city center, where housing and rent prices have increased dramatically. The families whose children attend Catholic schools tend to reside in new residential areas far from the city center. To attract these families and to remain competitive amid a decline in the size of the city’s student population, Catholic schools offer a range of non-religious choice programs, which we theorize as niche schooling. Against the backdrop of these changes, we note that social class matters, and in fact social class gets reproduced to the extent that Catholic schools that are located in higher-income areas offer more academically oriented programs that prepare students for post-secondary education. Also, the students from higher-income backgrounds are more likely to choose to attend the Catholics schools in the wealthier areas and/or schools that offer more enriched choice programs that are located in wealthier areas.

The findings of our study are significant because they elucidate that Catholic school choice in the global city is not only a reproduction of religious identity but also a part of socio-spatial reproduction through Catholic schools’ niche schooling strategy in the era of market-oriented school reforms.

Authors

• Ee-Seul Yoon, University of Manitoba

• Scott Davies, University of Toronto - OISE