3. Relationship between the linguistic and social composition of schools

In this section we will examine the relationship between the linguistic composition of schools and their social composition, interpreted in terms of the level of education of the pupils' parents. Applying the same grouping by quartiles as in the preceding section, Table 4 shows that, in the different linguistic contexts of the municipalities, we find higher levels of education for the families in the schools in the highest quartile. It will also be seen that the schools with the lowest proportion of Catalan speakers are also those whose pupils' families have the poorest educational background. There are also some differences between the schools in the two middle quartiles, but they are less significant. The results portray a clear relationship between the linguistic and social composition of those centres that have a more homogeneous linguistic composition, either because Catalan-speaking families are in a small minority (less than 25%) or because they constitute a clear majority (over 75%).

Table 4. Percentage of pupils in schools according to linguistic composition (by quartiles) and family educational background

Type of municipality	Family educational background	Linguistic composition of schools (% of Catalan speakers)
		0-25%	25-50%	50-75%	75-100 %	Total
Spanish-speaking municipalitie	Compulsory education or less	58,6	35,5	28	10,8	43
	Post-compulsory education	32,7	43,2	50	27,3	38,1
	Higher education	8,7	21,2	22	61,9	19
	Total	100	100	100	100	100
Bilingual municipalities	Compulsory education or less	67,4	49,3	39,7	19,6	39,5
	Post-compulsory education	27,3	35,2	33,9	39,2	34,7
	Higher education	5,3	15,5	26,4	41,2	25,9
	Total	100	100	100	100	100
Catalan-speaking municipalities	Compulsory education or less	86,8	62,7	54,6	37	50,7
	Post-compulsory education	13,2	22,9	25,8	37,3	29
	Higher education	0	14,5	19,7	25,7	20,3
	Total	100	100	100	100	100

According to the linguistic profile of the municipality, there are some significant differences, especially between Spanish-speaking and Catalan-speaking municipalities. The schools with a higher proportion of Catalan speakers (top quartile) in municipalities with Spanish-speaking majorities have pupils with better family educational backgrounds. Care must be taken when making comparisons between different municipalities, as the weight of the different levels of studies of the families varies from one municipality to another. However, it is precisely the Spanish-speaking municipalities which have the lowest percentage of families with higher studies. As a result, the differences referred to in connection with bilingual and Catalan-speaking municipalities are particularly noticeable.

In Spanish-speaking municipalities we can distinguish two "withdrawal" strategies among families with higher levels of education. On the one hand, there is "flight" to grant-maintained schools in neighbouring municipalities, and, on the other, the concentration of some families with high levels of education in schools in their own municipality which enjoy a high level of "social prestige", mainly grant-maintained schools.(10) In both cases these processes of "social withdrawal" have effects on the linguistic composition of schools. In the first case, the "flight" to neighbouring municipalities leads to a reduction in the density of Catalan-speaking families in the municipality. In the second, the process of social withdrawal to certain schools in the centre of towns and cities gives rise to cases of pronounced linguistic segregation, with over 75% of Catalan-speaking families. These two mechanisms in the choice of school lead to the generation of school contexts with a very limited number of Catalan-speaking families, as a result of their concentration in certain schools, either in the municipality itself or in a neighbouring municipality. In these municipalities a balanced distribution of Catalan-speaking pupils would produce schools where Catalan-speaking pupils were in the minority, but the process of "flight" - whether inter-municipal or intra-municipal - leaves most schools with a minimal, or even non-existent, proportion of Catalan-speaking pupils.

We will now consider the differences between municipalities regarding schools in the lowest quartile (i.e. schools with less than 25% of Catalan-speaking families). In Catalan-speaking municipalities, the educational background of pupils at schools in this quartile tends to be poorer than in other municipalities. It should be pointed out that in these municipalities, unlike Spanish-speaking municipalities, there are very few schools in this quartile. These schools are attended by 5% of the pupils in the municipality, while in Spanish-speaking municipalities these schools account for 44% of pupils. If we consider the second quartile, we also find that levels of education are proportionally lower than in Spanish-speaking municipalities. Furthermore, in the Catalan-speaking municipalities the schools in the lowest quartile have particularly low results in terms of educational background, compared with the average levels of education for the municipalities.

The fact that the schools in the first quartile (and in the second) are in a minority in Catalan-speaking municipalities may partly explain this poor educational background. In all likelihood, in bilingual and Spanish-speaking municipalities, the schools with the poorest family educational backgrounds are also in these quartiles (especially the first), but there are also schools where this tendency is less pronounced. In Catalan-speaking municipalities, on the other hand, the few schools in which the majority of pupils are Spanish-speaking tend to coincide with a lower level of parental education. In fact, the coincidence favours the stigmatisation of the schools, as the social status of their pupils' families is reflected in a clearly visible distinctive cultural trait (the use of Spanish).

As we have verified in the course of our research, the main motive of choice among families with a medium-high socioeconomic status is the social composition of centres (Benito and Gonzàlez, 2007). In contexts where there is a Catalan-speaking majority, the "Spanishness" of some schools may act as a symbolic marker for the presence of a significant proportion of families whose status is low. This association between Spanish-speaking schools and low status, may encourage the response of "flight" to more "Catalanised" schools among medium- and high-status Catalan-speaking families (and, to a lesser extent, non Catalan-speaking families).