School segregation of migrants and their descendants in a dual school system: The case of Barcelona

This study analyses levels of school segregation of students of immigrant origin in a city of the south of Europe, namely, Barcelona, which is characterised by a rapidly increasing growth of international immigration in recent decades and moderate or even low levels of residential segregation of immigrants. Besides its analysis of nationality and origin, its main contribution is that it explores a generational typology classifying students according to their place of birth, year of arrival and origin of progenitors, thus revealing different degrees of school segregation in keeping with each student's migratory history. Moreover, in the context of a dual school system (public and private), segregation is analysed by breaking it down in accordance with state or private ownership of the school. The results indicate a marked degree of segregation among students of the first generation and also among descendants of immigrants, showing how the dual school system is responsible for a significant part of the segregation, and that comparison of residential and school segregation always shows that the latter is greater.