Raising children in diverse environments: parental narratives about diverse neighbourhoods and school choices

Recently, there is increasing scholarly interest in the strategies urban middle class families adopt regarding diversity in the neighbourhood and at school. However, it remains unclear how the strategies used in the neighbourhood and at school are interrelated. In addition, there is little known about the considerations of lower class families. This paper investigates how parents from different socioeconomic and ethno-cultural backgrounds in Antwerp deal with diversity through an in-depth analysis of six interviews. Results indicate that parents use different class informed strategies. Children of lower class parents are more exposed to diversity in the neighbourhood than middle class children, while middle class parents are more likely to mention diversity in the neighbourhood as an asset for their children. Both lower and middle class parents make school choices that contribute to segregation. But some middle class parents deliberately choose mixed schools to build on the multicultural capital of their children.