Open Door Events: positioning schools in urban post-compulsory education markets

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the role of open-door events as key institutional devices to position schools in local education markets. The paper draws on data from a qualitative study based on observations in 25 open-door events in secondary schools in the city of Barcelona. The findings show, on the one hand, how promotional actions are mediated by a school’s position in the local hierarchy and by objectively unequal features in terms of the type of ownership, social composition and programs offered. On the other hand, the findings reveal how, from these unequal positions, schools display different logics of action aimed at providing information about their status among families and students from different social backgrounds. Overall, the paper presents a typology of schools that contributes to a better understanding of the hierarchy of the local education markets in the transition to upper secondary education.