ABSTRACT
Neighbourhood effect studies have shown that schools are an important pathway through which the neighbourhood influences young people’s social outcomes. Research into how young people select schools, however, has thus far primarily focused on the perspectives of parents. In this chapter, I will therefore provide insight into young people’s (13–19 years of age) perspectives on secondary school choice in the low-income, multi-ethnic neighbourhood Feijenoord in Rotterdam. The Netherlands is a country with free school choice, and in Rotterdam a young person can reach on average 10 relevant secondary schools within a 10-kilometre radius. However, the young people in the study tend to end up in neighbourhood schools, which generally have a predominantly non-white student body and sometimes an unfavourable reputation. Young people’s choices for a neighbourhood school can be explained not only by physical proximity but also by the fact that their knowledge about schools is messy and incomplete and that factors of belonging and exclusion play an important role. I conclude that school choice should not be seen only in relation to rational factors, but that it is important to look at the information young people receive about different schools and their sense of cultural and neighbourhood belonging.
