[WORKSHOP] 🚩 A.00. Separated At School: Which Challenges for Policies? (Presentation of SD Special Issue suppl/2025)

Over the past twenty years, the high concentration of students from socioeconomically disadvantaged households or with migrant backgrounds in Italian schools has prompted scholars to reflect on the issue of school segregation. Some studies have identified the main characteristics of this phenomenon, highlighting the need to deepen its analysis and to develop targeted policies.

School segregation is not only a consequence of structural, social and territorial inequalities, but also a factor that contributes to perpetuate disadvantages. The special issue presents some of the main emerging findings and explores methodological and analytical challenges in the study of school segregation in Italy.

The collected contributions examine the combined factors that contribute to school segregation, including the residential distribution of the population, institutional configurations, and households’ choices. They also address the effects of school segregation on academic outcomes and opportunities for social mobility, with particular attention to the intertwined factors that influence educational trajectories (e.g., peer effects or school effect).

The overall aim of the special issue is to contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon, while also laying the groundwork for reflections geared toward public policy. In this Workshop, we propose to open a discussion not only on the contents of the issue but also on the main policy challenges that this topic poses. A brief presentation of the special issue by editors and authors will be followed by a roundtable discussion with invited academics and stakeholder.