Fighting School Segregation: A Policy Analysis of Municipal Approaches to Educational Segregation in Dutch Primary Education

In an ever more diversifying society, an odd development is taking place: people seem to be living increasingly in their own bubble with like-minded people. This is reflected in the Dutch primary school system, where school segregation remains one of the highest of all European countries (EENEE, et al., 2021). This study explores desegregation policy interventions in the Dutch context. It systematically analyzes these policies, and the mechanisms that impact their successfulness. The corresponding research question is “What are the main policy interventions in the Dutch municipal context to counter primary school segregation, and what mechanisms and processes shape their effectiveness?”. The investigated policies are cooperating in central admission policy, organizing central information provision, increasing educational quality, merging schools, and tactically placing new schools. Literature research has been conducted through three policy evaluation frameworks, namely Schneider and Ingram’s Policy Design Framework (1997), Hemerijck’s framework on the Core Questions on Policy (2003), and Shiffman and Smith’s Political Priority Framework (2007). This research adds to the body of research on policy approaches to counteract primary school segregation in the Netherlands. It can provide tools to consider for municipalities when implementing or executing one of the researched policy interventions to decrease school segregation.