Extract
[...] As previously indicated, the decree of June includes positive discrimination measures in the French Community of Belgium. Resulting from several years of reflection on school inequalities and how to address them, it aims to ensure a more equitable distribution of resources to schools based on the socio-economic disparities of the students. The measures described by Demeuse essentially concern an increase in financial and human resources for schools located in disadvantaged areas. These additional resources take the form of a greater number of personnel, including teachers as well as people providing direct support to students and financial means to repair or improve the infrastructure and material goods of the establishments, which is necessary in many poor neighborhoods due to visible complaints from the street, vandals, etc. [...]
[...] Regarding the evaluation of schools to be positively discriminated against, a socio-economic index was developed by an inter-university team led by Marc Demeuse. In fact, according to Marc Demeuse,a double study was undertaken on urban neighborhoods in order to propose a socio-economic index comparable to that developed for positive discriminations ». The socio-professional indicator is based on a set of socio-economic variables: household incomes, parents' education level, housing quality, unemployment rate, and household structure. In order to avoid any sense of partiality, some variables, such as students' nationality, were not taken into account in order to adopt a broader approach. [...]
[...] This creates a problem when different regions are represented in the same institution. The availability of data is a critical point of the effectiveness of the method, as it determines the accuracy of the identification of the establishments that should benefit from the aid. In fact, in some cases, the databases used to calculate the socio-economic index are insufficient or not detailed enough, which makes the attribution of the score to the establishments unreliable and, therefore, the allocation of resources is unfair. [...]
[...] In addition, it leads to identification errors, due to the fact that only the collective characteristics of students are taken into account in the choice of schools. In other words, it is possible that disadvantaged students are left out of the device in question because they are schooled in the school located in the non-disadvantaged neighborhood, while more favored students benefit because they remain in the disadvantaged neighborhood. In conclusion of this chapter, Demeuse mentions several theoretical models justifying positive discrimination policies. [...]
[...] The main objective of positive discrimination is to promote equal opportunities in the educational system. By allocating additional resources to establishments that welcome a high proportion of disadvantaged students, the decree allows for reducing the starting gap and also reducing the burden of poverty. By limiting the performance disparities of students from different backgrounds, the approach also leads to equitable results, in the idea of promoting fair conditions on a permanent basis and reducing the risk of school segregation based on socio-economic location. [...]
