School Choice of Middle-Class Parents and Students in the Context of Neoliberal Policies

The purpose of the present study was to examine the reasons of school choices of middle-class families and their children within the context of the neoliberal education policies in Turkish education system. The study adopts a qualitative descriptive research approach. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews. The first study group consisted of 22 parents (13 public and 9 private schools). The second study group consisted of 30 students (16 public and 14 private school students) who were middle class, had high enough exit-exam score to be able to choose science high schools in Gaziantep province in the academic year of 2016-2017. The data were analyzed using the descriptive and content analysis techniques. The findings indicated that academic, economic, environmental, personal, social and cultural, religious, politic factors and physical conditions affected middle class parents and students school choices. The multi-factorial features demonstrate that middle-school parents and students are rather cautious and thorough in school selection. An important inference from the findings is that middle-class tends to see education as a re-generational tool serving to hold on to their social status and existence.


Introduction
Education outputs far from the desired results, increased costs and insufficient state intervention in the education system to mobilize entrepreneurs are all among the cited reasons to privatize education (Adnett, 2004). According to Friedman (1997), since students and families will have the opportunity to choose the schools themselves if education is privatized, the "principle of competition," one of the fundamental bases of neoliberalism, will come into play in the market and the desired success will be achieved in education.
Paulo Freire (1970), one of the leading names of critical pedagogy, has pointed out that students will be in the position of a consumer as a result of the privatization of education and their only objective would become a diploma with a potential of employment. Those who position themselves against privatization argue that commercialization of education brings about transfer of teacher authorities to the business world and hence the business world would become the wining party at the expense of creating disqualified teachers (see for example Apple, 1982;Molnar, 2006;Giroux, 2008). Robertson and Dale (2013, pp.427) approach to the privatization from a different perspective and argue that privatization of education defines new terms and means in relation to the individuals, education and society. According to them, privatization of education transforms information into "diploma," learning into "consumption" and learners into "human capital." This can be considered as a new form of governmentality, which refers to a (renewed) relationship between those who govern and the ones who are governed (Lauder et al., 2006). According to Foucault (1997, pp.81), management is the guidance of individuals' behaviors. He defines the use of power as a technique for shaping the actions of individuals (Foucault, 1982, pp.75-77). Therefore, the "force" that the power will use is a regulatory or transformative one. In his studies where he analyzed the concept of "power", Foucault emphasizes the phrase "make someone willing" rather than "pressure" (Neumann and Sending, 2010). Therefore, middle-class attaches importance to selecting the best alternatives for their children's education which is again subject of neoliberal policies.
The notion of class has long been examined from the Marxian and Weberian perspectives on the basis of economic capital, a transformation began in the analysis of class by the 1970s. For example, Bourdieu's views of class include the concepts of habitus, field and cultural capital. Cultural capital is the sum of knowledge gained through education (Bourdieu, 1986). Jaeger (2011) states that cultural capital accounts for differences between/among individuals. Bourdieu argues that cultural capital is effective in determining the societal positions of individuals and that this type of capital has an impact on maintaining societal positions of classes by allowing them to regenerate themselves.
Families attempt to maintain their class existence by transferring their cultural background to new generations. Hence, cultural capital, which Bourdieu defines as "knowledge capital", has great significance in the continuity of class position (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 2003, pp.108).
Several studies showing how middle-class regenerates themselves through education (Ball, 2003;Brantlinger, 2003;Power et al., 2003;Devine, 2004;Balkan and Oncu, 2013;Aratemur Cimen 2015;Rutz and Balkan, 2016) also indicate that education has great significance for this class's maintenance of its existence. In this context, middle-class is a relatively advantageous group in the area of education compared to other classes, simply because this class is well-educated. As a result, they have sufficient knowledge and skills to control the complex systematic structure of education (Apple, 2001;Eryaman, 2009).
Official introduction of neoliberal understanding into the field of education was realized by the alignment programs prepared under the collaboration of the IMF and the World Bank in the 1980s (Sayilan, 2006). As of the 1980s, governments began to restructure education systems and practices with the influence of global neoliberalism in order to adapt to the new world order. International actors such as the European Union (EU), The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), General Agreement on Tariffs and Services (GATS) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) played a role in this restructuring. In Turkey, privatization of education became official on an international level with the signing of GATS in 1998. Educational grants that have been paid to private school students since 2014 by the Turkish government have raised the interest in private schools (Education Reform Initiative, 2016, pp.11) and paved the way for families to make their school choices more carefully and diligently.

Secondary education in Turkey as an area of competition for the middle class
Turkey stands out as one of the countries where the level of success among schools in secondary education differs quite significantly (OECD, 2010). The main reason of this variation is the placement of students in secondary education institutions through nationwide exit-exams. Students who receive high scores in the exit-exams prefer science high schools, private science high schools and high schools specializing in social studies and hence these high schools turn out to be the most successful ones (Assesment, Selection and Placement Center, 2017). The study program implemented in "Anatolian Imam Hatip (Imam and Preacher) High Schools Practicing a Science and Social Studies Project or Programme and in "Project Schools" which have been serving under the General Directorate of Religious Education since 2016, is one of the most preferred programs due to features such as the ability of school managers to select the teachers of these programs and the single-sex education programs (i.e. separate education for boys and girls).

Purpose of the research
The purpose of this research is to examine the factors that affect the school choices of middleclass families and their children in the context of neoliberal policies in the Turkish education system.
The study examines the reasons underlying the decisions and actions of families and their children in a period of neoliberal education policies.

Selection of the study group
This research is designed as a phenomenological study, which focuses on high-school students and their parents. The main reasons to focus on high-school level are (1) that students' and families' are able to choose the high-school without restriction of hinterland (area of enrollment) in Turkey at the high school level; (2) that success levels of students are assessed with a nationwide exit-exam (held for the transition to secondary education); and (3) that the choice of high school is seen as critical for students and parents due to the concern that it will affect the level of success in the university entry-exams. While selecting the schools, public science high schools with the highest entry scores in the exam for transition to secondary education and private science high schools that accept students with equivalent scores are preferred.
Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with middle-class families and their children. To identify the study group, literature related to the middle-class has primarily been reviewed. The studies such as Gilbert and Kahl (1993) and Power et al. (2003) suggest three main criteria for differentiation of middle-class: education, occupation and income level. In selecting the study group, these three criteria were used. Regarding education level, participating families were expected to be graduates of at least high-school or college (associate's degree). With regard to income level, it was decided that a monthly household income of approximately $1100 and above would be required as a result of the analysis of the data of the Research on Turkish Family Structure (TAYA, 2011) and the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK, 2014) taking into account the hunger and poverty thresholds in Turkey. Due to the above-mentioned reasons, the criterion sampling method of the purposeful sampling methods was chosen for the identification of the study group. In the identification of parents, the criteria of (1) level of education (at least high school graduate), (2) occupation, and (3) monthly household income (minimum $1100) were used. While selecting students, in addition to those criteria, exit-exam score was also considered.
Participants 30 students and 22 parents from 9 different high schools (4 public and 5 private schools) participated in the study. All parents of students enrolled in private schools and 84% of parents of students enrolled in public schools stated that school choice was a joint decision taken by them and their children. Therefore, reasons behind the preferences of parents and students were examined. 13 of the parents were selected from public schools while 9 were selected from private schools and 16 of the students were selected from public schools while 14 were selected from private schools. 19 of the parents are females, while 3 of them are males. 20 of the students are females, while 10 of them are males. Ages of the parents range from 34 to 53, while the ages of the students range from 14 to 16. 4 of the parents are high school graduates, 13 are university graduates and 5 have postgraduate degrees.
Parents who are interviewed have the following occupations: teacher (9), housewife (5), public official (2), engineer (2), military officer (1), doctor (1), pharmacist (1) and financial advisor (1). All of the interviewed parents are married. 13 of the parents can speak English and 4 Arabic as a second language. 5 of them do not know any foreign languages. Rather than using the names of the participants, the students, parents, public schools and private schools are referred to as "S", "P", "PBS" and "PRS" respectively and then they are numbered. For example, S-PRS1 refers to the first student enrolled in a private school.

Data collection
In the research, data have been collected through semi-structured interviews. Two separate interview forms were prepared for students and parents. Questions in relation to demographic variables as well as questions that would reveal the reasons for the school preferences were included in the interview forms. The parents were chosen from among the volunteers meeting the pre-determined criteria with the help of school administrations and the students who were interviewed before. It was observed that especially, almost all of the parents of students enrolled in private schools meet the criteria for middle-class mentioned earlier. Hence, parents with higher education levels, occupational position and monthly incomes as well as knowledge of second language have been prioritized in the selection.

Data analysis
In this research, the content analysis techniques were used. The data were analyzed in four stages: (1) data were coded, (2) categories were identified, (3) codes and themes were arranged, (4) findings were identified and interpreted. Following the interviews, it was seen that parent and student preferences can be aggregated into 8 categories: academic, physical, economic, environmental, personal, social and cultural, religious and political. The categories and codes that were created to provide reliance were presented for expert analysis. Coder reliability rate was calculated on the basis of Miles and Huberman (1994) and the result was 0.91, which was high enough.

Findings with regard to parents' school choice
Findings obtained from the interview data regarding the factors affecting middle-class parents' school choices are provided in Table 1 below. In terms of political factors, it can be seen that the political incidents in the country affect the school choices of the parents. PBS parents emphasized that due to the closure of private high schools, they had concerns for diplomas received from private high schools as they could create problems in the future and attached importance to this issue in their choice of schools. P-PBS7 mentioned the adversities that they might experience if they preferred a private school with the following statement: ...while we were choosing a school we decided that we absolutely wouldn't select a private school. Because some schools were closed right during this period of preference. There's no way of knowing whether the private school we chose would be closed or not in the future.

What good would a diploma from a closed school be then? It would cause trouble.
State support of the school type (38%) is also included in the reasons of preference of PBS parents. This issue has been brought up by the parents of Imam-Hatip Science High School students.
Some parents mentioned that the government attached importance to these schools and that those who received an education in these schools might have privileges in the future. P-PBS5 of the parents provided an explanation as follows: The state attaches great importance to imam hatip science high schools. That's why we placed this school at the top of our preferences.
One PRS parent drew attention to the importance of close association of school administration with the government. P-PRS3 has expressed her opinion on this issue as follows: In our school preference, we looked at schools that don't have a problem with the government. The one we chose is close to the government.

Findings with regard to students' school choice
Findings obtained from the interview data regarding the factors affecting middle-class students' school choices are provided in Table 2 below.

Physical factors
Richness of the resources and equipment 3 19 10 71 Small number of students in a class 0 0 14 100

Environmental Factors
Features of the circle of friends 14 88 12 86 Reputation of the school 10 63 11 79 Others' recommendation 7 44 8 57

Personal Factors
Willingness to go to a private school 0 0 4 29 Willingness to receive a privileged education 0 0 4 29

Social and Cultural Factors
Guidance for social and cultural activities 10 63 13 93

Political Factors
Closure of private schools 4 25 0 0 As seen in Table 2, the school choice of public and private school students is affected by academic, physical, economic, environmental, personal, social and cultural, religious and political factors. In terms of academic factors, there many features matching to the ones expressed with the parents. In a similar vein to the parents, some PBS students indicated that they chose a public school over a private one as they thought that teachers in private schools were not adequate. When the students are compared among themselves, it is seen that private school students differ from public school students in areas such as the quality of education in foreign languages (86%), monitoring the student work (71%) and preparation for studying abroad (14%). S-PRS8 of private school students emphasizes the importance of foreign language education for himself/herself with the following statement:

My dream is to study abroad for university. So, the capabilities of schools in foreign language education were very important in my choice of school.
Some PBS students (56%) mentioned that they intentionally chose their school, as it was a project school; particularly because project schools would be more successful than other science high schools academically due to their features. S-PBS15 explained such as: Project schools have different practices compared to other science high schools. For instance, they pick the academic staff themselves. This has really impressed me. I think these schools are going to be more successful.
In terms of physical features, it is seen that while all private school students took into account small classroom size in school choice, public school students did not mention about this.
Private school students seemed to associate the quality of the school with the classroom sizes. Both In terms of economic factors, it is seen that while public school students had nothing to say about this aspect, private school students chose schools by using criteria such as the scholarship opportunities of the school and the school fee being affordable. S-PRS5 stated: I've wanted to study at A college since the 7th grade. But my score wasn't enough for their full scholarship program. So I preferred another private school.
In terms of environmental factors, both group of students attach importance to the circle of friends, the school reputation and others' recommendation. The students have expressed concern that the circle of friends at the school must be academically and socially appropriate. S-PBS8, for example, highlighted the academic success of the students in public schools: I think students in public schools are more successful since they care classes. So I picked a public school, I wanted the environment to help me become more driven.
On the other hand, private school students tend to approach the friendship as a matter of socialization. S-PRS3, for instance, put it as follows: Students at private schools are more social. I wanted to go to a private school since I'm a social and fun-loving person.
With regards to personal factors, it can be seen that the willingness of private school students to go to a private school and receive a privileged education are effective in their choice of school.
Some private school students stated that they would like to study at a private school during high school as well, since they studied at a private school during primary and/or secondary school.
In terms of religious factors, PRS students do not refer to the these factors in explaining their school choice; however, PBS students seemed to have more concerned with such factors in their accounts. Religious factors were especially evident in the expression of those students attending in PBS implementing Imam-Hatip program. These students expressed that they were attracted to the fact that Imam-Hatip science schools provide religious studies along with science programs. S-PBS1 expressed that I had actually preferred a normal science high school. Afterwards, when I heard of this type of school I immediately transferred to this one, because the fact that the school is both an imam hatip high school and a science high school attracted me more.
When the opinions of students with regard to the choice of school are examined in terms of political factors, only do public school students voice their opinions as in the case of religious factors.
Closure of private schools is included as an effective factor in the school choice of public school students. S-PBS11 of the students expressed this issue as follows: I'm afraid of private schools now. If they get closed my whole life could be affected by that diploma. I think the best option is a public school. Its diploma is applicable anytime, anywhere.

Discussion
According to the report published by the World Bank, the middle-class comprised 7.6% of the world population in 2000. In the report, it is stated that this ratio will reach 16.1% by 2030 (World Bank, 2007). In their research, Kapas and Liang (2009) state that while the ratio of the middle class to the whole population is 11% in 2008 in countries such as Turkey, China, India, Mexico, Brazil and Russia, it is expected that 40% of the total population in these countries will be composed of the middle-class by 2028. Despite such projections, Ohmae (2006) determines that the majority of the middle class (80%) shift towards lower levels (classes). This finding might provide evidence to Phillips, 2008;Ajuwon and Bradshaw, 2009;. The research studies compiled evidence that quality of teachers was an important predictor of students' academic success (see, for example, Rivkin et al., 2005;Hattie 2009). Results of these studies prove middle-class parents right in their expectations of teaching staff. A seminal study conducted by , in which the school preferences of middle and working-class families are compared, reports that middle-class families attach more importance to the quality of teachers. When our findings along with the others' are taken together, it could be inferred that as the middle-class is well-educated, they make use of this advantageous position while communicating with the teaching staff and hence somehow attempt to control them, acting as covert auditors (see also Lareu, 1997;Crozier, 1998).
Findings of this study point out that environmental factors as features of friends, school's reputation and others' recommendation are important for both parents and students while making a school choice. Researchers, such as, Woods (1996), van Zanten (2003) preferences. An interesting observation comes from Bernal (2005) who argues that middle-class sees reputable and prestigious schools as a means to get differentiated from the working-class. Hence, middle-class pays close attention to the friendship opportunities, reputation and others' recommendation as all these features in one way or another potentially exhibit their difference.
Another important finding of this study was that middle-class parents and students tended to prefer schools with students whose families were economically and culturally similar to theirs in their choice of school. Similar observations are also made by others as well (see, Reay and Ball, 1997;Bernal, 2005;Maloutas, 2007;Raveaud and van Zanten, 2007;Aratemur Cimen, 2015;Benson et al. 2015;Stacey, 2016). The researchers stated that middle-class did not want to choose schools consisting mostly of students from lower classes. School location was also found to be effective in school choice of middle-class parents. Similar findings are also reported by others (see, Mcnally, 2002;van Zanten, 2003;Vincent and Ball, 2004;Bernal, 2005;Maloutas, 2007;Goldring and Phillips, 2008;Rasky and Ringrose, 2009;Garnett, 2010;Aratemur Cimen, 2015;Benson et al., 2015;Prichard and Swezey, 2016). By preferring schools with students whose families have economic, cultural and social qualities similar to theirs, middle-class families actually try to preserve their own economic, cultural and social qualities and try to ensure this by their children's education (Lareau, 1997;Brantlinger, 2003;Power et al., 2003;Devine, 2004). Also Bourdieu (2006) argued that middle-class people tried to preserve their continuity by transferring their economic, cultural and social capital to their children through education.
That middle-class parents attach importance to the socio-economic status of the families of other students can also be indirectly associated with Coleman et al. (1966), Jencks et al. (1972) and the Plowden Report (1966). These sources have made a common observation that the family's societal class and its cultural, social and economic qualities have a significant role in the success of the student. When looked at from this perspective, the fact that the middle class prefers schools with students whose families are economically, socially and culturally similar to theirs could be assessed as an indicator of their desire for their children to study together with academically successful students.
Though not directly related to our findings, we feel it worthwhile to note here that there are studies which reveal that middle-class families find themselves in a dilemma where they are adversely affected by the cultural richness while considering schools with students from different ethnic backgrounds (Gibbons and Machin, 2003;Raveaud and van Zanten, 2007;Boyd, 2011;Benson et al., 2015). After the civil war in Syria, the number of Syrian students studying in Turkey has become an issue that concerns the educators and the families. In 2011, the number of Syrian students studying at temporary education centers in Turkey is 34,000. The Syrian students were allowed to receive education with Turkish students at public schools with the "Regulation of Education Services for  Belinda et al., 2013;Prichard and Swezey, 2016;Rowe, 2017), this study has found that the religious identity of the school is important for parents. In Turkey, schools which practice science/social studies programs in addition to the program of an Imam-Hatip high school (Project school) have begun operating in 2016. In this context, opening of schools which practice the programs of both an imam hatip high school and a science high school and the fact that boys and girls study separately at these schools have been an identifier for some middle-class families who consider religious and academic factors together. This can be interpreted as the willingness of the middle-class to preserve its religious values by providing their children with a school environment where their religious values are put in practice. According to Ajuwon and Bradshaw (2009), parents try to support the education of their children in a way that would be consistent with their religious beliefs.
One of the primary political reasons which especially affect the school preferences of parents is the closure of 1,017 private schools and 15 Foundation Universities following the coup attempt that occurred in Turkey on July 15, 2016. These closures occurred right before the period of preference for high schools. Therefore, this caused the middle-class parents and students to consider political factors while making a school choice such as the governmental support to the school type and association of school administration with the government. When the relevant literature is reviewed, it is seen that there are several studies that mention the impact of politics, political parties, party sympathies and the ruling government on education (Iversen and Stephens 2008;Jakobi et al., 2010;Vis, 2012;Gift and Wibbels 2014;Garritzmann and Seng, 2016). The middle-class can be considered as a class that is aware of the relationship between politics and education and has the ability to make strategic choices accordingly (Apple, 2001;Benson et al., 2015). The choice of school is also a political act for the middle-class (Reay et al., 2013;Cucchiara and Horvat, 2014).
We finish discussion with an observation that we made during the study. Throughout this study, we observed that mothers were more active in the determination of the school preferences (19 mothers -3 fathers). The majority of the participants in many other studies (Billingham and Kimelberg, 2013;van Zanten, 2003;Aratemur Cimen, 2015) focusing on middle-class parents were also mothers as well. We believe that mother dominance in our and other studies is far from a simple coincidence; it is, we think, related to the (and in fact reflect) middle-class mothers' qualities. In many studies conducted on the middle-class and education (Reay, 1998(Reay, , 2005Ball 2003;Griffith and Smith 2005;Gottzén, 2011;Irwin and Elley, 2012;Rowe and Windle, 2012;Stacey, 2016;Yamamoto, 2016;Leyton and Rojas, 2017), the interest of middle-class mothers in education due to their educational backgrounds and the fact that they are the party taking an active role in the decisions regarding the education of their children are mentioned. May (2012) attributes the fact that middle-class mothers are responsible for the decisions taken during their children's education process to the reduction of mother and child relationships to an entrepreneurial one. According to May, mothers see their children as an investment instrument and try to maximize their profits by obtaining a good university diploma at the end of the process.

Conclusions and educational implications
In the study, it has been concluded that the school preferences of parents and students are affected by academic, physical, economic, environmental, personal, social and cultural, religious and political factors. This multi-dimensionality showed how careful and meticulous the middle-class is in their school choices. In line with this conclusion, it can be said that the middle class uses education as an instrument to regenerate itself.
In the study, it has been concluded that middle-class parents attach importance to the fact that parents of other students are economically, socially and culturally similar to themselves. The desire of the middle-class for their children to study with students from a similar habitus, reveals that this is a class which tries to preserve its advantageous position with its economic, social and cultural capital.
It has been seen that the middle class also attaches importance to its religious values, especially in public school preferences. This can be said to arise from the fact that the middle class tries to continue its struggle for existence by preserving its humane, ethical, religious and universal values as well as its economic and cultural capital. In the study, it has been found that the middle-class parents and students make their choice of school by assessing political factors as well. In the research, it has been discovered that the participants position themselves according to the political incidents in the country during the choice of a school and they acknowledge that all types of schools have either a religious or a political identity regardless of them being a private or public school.
Our final words are concerned with a brief consideration of educational implications of our findings. In the study, it has been seen that the personal preferences of students in particular, remain in the background during their choice of school. The pressure of academic success and "diploma" on the students may turn them into unhappy and ordinary individuals in the future. Preferences and priorities of young people must be considered independently of market conditions, even during the struggle for class position and existence and steps must be taken in this direction. Academic, physical and social insufficiencies of public science high schools in particular, make the middle-class become dependent on the private sector and lead them into a vicious-circle. In order to overcome this, the public schools must look for ways to rescue itself from the clutches of neoliberal policies.
This study has been conducted with middle-class parents and students. The school choice process can be examined by adding different dimensions including school administrators and teachers to studies. Also, the determining factors can be revealed by researching the university preferences of the middle-class and other classes in the context of neoliberal policies implemented at the higher education level.