Abstract

The Chilean education system is characterised by a type of mixed provision and the participation of the private sector in school provision, which is consolidated as the network with the largest enrolment in the country. However, the reasons behind its consolidation, its characteristics and the effects of its expansion on the organisation of school provision remain underrepresented in the education debate. It is therefore relevant to ask how the private subsidised network is composed and how its attributes interact with the institutional characteristics of school provision in a context of regulatory changes. The study focuses on what are the characteristics of schools, inquiring into the attributes of status recognised by families, the selectivity practices of schools and connecting with the broader discussion on mixed provision systems. For this purpose, an exploratory factorial technique is used to highlighting that the traditional sources of status - fees, composition and performance differentiation within higher status schools.