Risk Environment and Access to Education. Notes from a Field Study in the Town of Pazardzhik)

This article describes the risk environment in the Bulgarian town of Pazardzhik related to the access to school education. The analysis draws upon empirical evidence gathered from focus groups and interviews done as part of the field work in the project “Educational Inequalities and Social Chances”. The term “risk environment” derives from the broader definition of “social environment” by Barnett and Casper, which encompasses a vast spectrum of social, physical and economic phenomena. Taking inspiration from Durkheim’s idea that human minds populate the social environment with its forces, I see the alarming voices of the interviewed as weaving the “tapestry” of risks. The narrative serves as simply a means to amplify the voices and put the seemingly disjointed excerpts in order. The stories I draw upon are important as they enable us to trace the contours of an underlying web of problems, which have a critical impact on school education yet they remain beyond the reach of the educational policies. The article argues that the lack of detailed knowledge and insight into the subtle nuances of the local environment undermine the success of possible mitigation strategies. The analysis highlights the inherent weaknesses of any attempts to curtail risks through purely financial and administrative solutions.