DECPA. Data base used for "Mapping the Opportunities of Attending Bilingual Schools in Spain"

Abstract

Article Summary: Spanish-English bilingual education programmes have spread widely in Spain in recent years. Although some evaluation research has already been conducted, the effects of this policy in terms of equity have received little attention. We analyse whether the supply of `bilingual schools¿ is modulated by a set of factors that may affect the equality of opportunities available to students to access this education. We study all primary schools in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants in the region of Andalusia (n= 1,119). Data show that the likelihood schools will offer the bilingual programme varies greatly across different catchment areas, increasing in neighbourhoods and catchment areas with higher incomes, when the school is private or subsidised-private, and when it is closer to other schools. These imbalances in school supply produce significant inequalities in the structure of opportunities to attend this type of education.