State-subsidised private schools: the debate

State-subsidised private schools were introduced almost forty years ago. Since then, Catalonia has been among the seven OECD countries with the highest amount of enrolment in public schools dependent on public funds, behind the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Chile and Korea. International research shows that mixed-provision models, such as that of Catalonia, tend to increase inequality and school segregation, and require effective regulation to reduce or compensate for them.

The report State-subsidised private schools: the debate analyses the regulation of the Catalan model of state-subsidised private schools and compares it with other educational systems in which the subsidised private sector carries an important weight on the whole of primary and/or secondary educational provision. This comparison makes it possible to identify those dimensions of the educational regulation in which the Catalan system of state-subsidised private schools has room for improvement, especially in terms of equality. As well as this, the study also examines the principal discussions and reform processes recently developed in other countries in order to identify the preferred policy trends and options adopted, with the aim of improving the education system in terms of equality.