Resumen

ZAMORA POBLETE, Guillermo  y  MOFORTE MADSEN, Carla. Why students change of school? An Analysis starting from the family decisions. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2013, vol.35, n.140, pp.48-62. ISSN 0185-2698.

In Chile, the percentage of students who change of school is high, reaching 11.5% for primary education. From the perspective of the liberal policies that have been implemented in the Chilean educational system, this high mobility could be seen as a consequence of the fact that the families are now able to choose rationally, leaving the worse schools to enroll their children in the best ones. But the question is: Do the families always make that kind of rational and shrewd decision? This study attempts to define the kind of decisions that prevail when talking about school mobility, identifying the differences according to the school that the students attend: the kind of school administration and the socioeconomic level. This descriptive study is based on quantitative techniques for the data gathering and analysis. The results show that the decision of changing has mainly to do with the fact that the families do not feel satisfied with the educational offer they receive, showing that the decision of changing is made without a real analysis of the school market. This study show, finally, that the school mobility does not favor the improvement of educational quality in Chile.

Palabras llave : School mobility; School choice; Shrewd decision; Family decisions.