In this second episode of our DiveIn miniseries on school segregation in Spain, the story moves from idea to action.
After introducing the grassroots initiative in the Basque Country, we now follow the organizers as they take a bold step: bringing school segregation to the political stage. What does it take to turn concern into change? In this episode, you’ll hear how activists mobilized parents, school leaders, and policymakers to gather thousands of signatures and spark a national conversation.
But advocacy alone isn’t enough—data becomes their most powerful tool. Through compelling visualizations and creative use of available data, the team exposes stark inequalities between public schools and publicly funded private schools (concertadas). The patterns are hard to ignore: differences in who attends which schools reveal deep divides shaped by class, migration, and history.
Along the way, we zoom out to understand how Spain compares globally—and why the Basque Country presents a unique and complex case. From language politics to the legacy of ikastolas, schools born as resistance under dictatorship but now entangled in new forms of inequality, this episode uncovers the contradictions at the heart of the system.
And just when momentum builds, tensions emerge. Not everyone agrees on the problem—or the solution.
Will the movement gain enough support to reach parliament?
And what happens when equity efforts collide with history, identity, and politics?
🎙️ Tune in to hear how a grassroots campaign grows into a political force—and why the fight against school segregation is far more complicated than it seems.
Report Mentioned in the Story: Educación y segregación escolar en Euskadi
** This miniseries was originally produced for the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center
