Le choix de l’école secondaire par des parents dans le marché scolaire montréalais. Une étude compréhensive des conditions, stratégies et effets sociaux de l'exercice d'un devoir parental

The Quebec education system is based on a democratization principle and rapidly became a lever for the economic and social development of a society “lagging behind” the rest of the country (Proulx & Charland, 2009). However, according to Lessard (2019), while being above average compared to the rest of OECD countries regarding performance, the Quebec school system does much worse with regards to equity: it is the least equitable of the Canadian systems. Since the Quiet Revolution, the Quebec Education Act (Loi sur l'instruction publique) regulates the rights and obligations of students and institutions, and also recognizes certain rights to the parents. School choice, for elementary or high school, is among the individual rights of parents recognized by the Education Act. Throughout the world, many global political and economic trends (New Public Management or NPM, accountability, etc.) as well as provincial and local policies (the Education Act in Quebec and various municipal and urban policies, etc.) stimulate the growth of choice practices, and the situation in Quebec, especially in Montreal, is no different. Researchers have yet to meaningfully address school-choice processes, but international studies have shown tangible links between the high school-choice processes of middle- and upper-class parents and increased inequality through social segregation (Felouzis et coll., 2013; van Zanten, 2009a). This dissertation aims to clarify the current debates on school choice in Montreal and highlights parental perceptions related to the singular feelings, experiences, and trajectories entailed in the choice of high schools. This research is essentially based on previous work by Felouzis et coll. (2013) and Karpik (2007) on judging quality of a public service. It also borrows conceptual notions from the sociology of the contemporary family (Singly, 2010) as well as studies by Déchaux (2009) and Valois (2009). Furthermore, following Bourdieu (1979) and Bourdieu and Passeron (2012), it illuminates the importance of cultural, economic, and social capital in the judgment and decision-making process of parents when they attempt to choose the right high school for their child. Finally, it feeds off of the interactionist sociology of van Zanten (2009) on school-choice decisions. The study first examined the decision-making processes of twenty-seven Montreal parents whose child is transitioning from elementary to high school. It then studied the educational supply in the five Montreal boroughs in which these parents reside: Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, and Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie. This thesis also embraces comprehensive and interpretive sociology and is based on semi-structured interviews (Kaufmann, 2011; Boutin, 1997). The inductive data analysis revealed great variability in parents’ school-choice processes following their differentiated conditions and resources. Only some parents could actually consider enrolling their child in the school of their choice. The limitations observed came down to places available in the institutions, the successful completion of a qualifying examination, the payment of relatively high school fees, the limited geographical access to certain schools or their child’s handicaps, social maladjustments or learning difficulties. Finally, the results extracted from the analysis highlight that the subjective perceptions and objective constraints that come into play in the school-choice process are also strongly conditioned by the supply of educational services in the families’ area of residence where there is indeed a differentiated access to education services. It shows that families living in these areas do not all have access to the same provision, to the same “quality” of education services and that the possibility of choosing a school or relocating to a given area of residence is tied to family income.

Keyphrases: Montréal, Education Markets, Public Schools, Private Schools, Judgments, Judgment Devices, Inequalities, Equality, School Mix, School Quality, School Choice