As we have pointed out in the course of this article, levels of linguistic segregation in schools cannot be explained exclusively in terms of inter-municipal or intra-municipal residential segregation, even though these are powerful factors. While both inter-municipal and intra-municipal residential segregation have a clear effect on the possibility of achieving a distribution of pupils which tends to social and linguistic heterogeneity in schools, the explanation for segregation lies elsewhere.

We have seen how in all municipalities, both large and small (though in very small municipalities an explanation based on residential segregation is meaningless), whether the majority of residents are Catalan-speaking or Spanish-speaking, the distribution of pupils is markedly uneven, leading to some schools having only a minority of Catalan-speaking pupils, or none at all. With an even residential distribution, the situation could be very different and more favourable to fostering the normal use of Catalan (Catalan-speaking and bilingual municipalities), or at least more favourable to the pupils' familiarity with Catalan (Spanish-speaking municipalities).

We have also seen how, to a large extent, linguistic and social segregation tend to point in the same direction. This is particularly significant in schools where there is a greater concentration of Catalan-speaking pupils in a non Catalan-speaking location (the pupils coming from families with above average levels of education) and in schools with a high concentration of non Catalan-speaking pupils in Catalan-speaking municipalities (the pupils coming from families with below average educational backgrounds). In general, then, the children of highly educated Catalan-speaking families and those of non Catalan-speaking families with poor educational backgrounds are to be found in the most highly segregated schools, even though they are opposing groups, especially in municipalities where they are not in the linguistic majority. In contrast, the children of educated non Catalan-speaking families and less educated Catalan-speaking families are distributed more evenly, probably because the linguistic and academic indicators do not have such a clear influence on the choice of school, as they do not reinforce each other. There are, then, some situations in which language reinforces social segregation, while there are others in which it attenuates it, but there is a significant link between them in all cases.

At the begiinning of this article we pointed out that, when referring to the concept of linguistic segregation, we were not considering intentional processes or differentiated linguistic models in schools, as the Catalan model for language use in schools establishes the same language of instruction for all pupils, avoiding the risk of linguistic fragmentation in the system. The figures presented in the article referring to the distribution of pupils according to the language used by their parents, however, reveal some risk of linguistic fragmentation related to structural processes which go beyond the model of language immersion in schools. These risks stem from the levels of social segregation which exist in the school system. Minimising these risks means tackling the processes of social segmentation which exist in some Catalan municipalities, so as to avoid the development of segregated school environments which can hinder pupils' mastery of Catalan and lead to negative attitudes to the language.

This leads us to think that factors leading to a reduction in social segregation will also help to reduce linguistic segregation. Beyond the limits marked by inter-municipal and, to a lesser extent, intra-municipal residential segregation, the local and autonomous education authorities can develop policies to favour greater social (and, as a side effect, linguistic) heterogeneity in schools (Benito and Gonzàlez, 2007). A clear contribution can be made by instruments for planning and regulating the processes by which pupils are assigned to schools, such as policies for reserving places for pupils with special educational needs, the guidelines at Municipal Education Offices, reductions in pupil-teacher ratios, the (re)design of catchment areas to take in large areas which include neighbourhoods with differing sociodemographic characteristics, etc. Logically, to avoid mechanisms leading to segregation, it is indispensable for these policies to be accompanied by the disappearance of the financial barriers to access to grant-maintained schools, another important factor in educational segregation.

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Ricard Benito i Pérez
IGOP, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Isaac Gonzàlez i Balletbò
IGOP, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; UOC