The location and status of primary schools and the commuting patterns of suburban pupils: the case of Poznań

Abstract

Urban–rural relations provide an important context for understanding the functioning of educational institutions, particularly in suburban areas experiencing processes of urbanisation. Such areas are characterised not only by dynamic transformations in school networks but also by substantial educational flows between suburban zones and their respective core cities. This article focuses on the latter phenomenon, using Poznań as a case study to investigate the extent to which the spatial positioning of schools within the urban fabric, alongside their institutional status (public versus non-public), shapes both the direction and magnitude of commuting from surrounding suburban municipalities. Drawing on detailed data from the Educational Information System (System Informacji Oświatowej), the analysis led to several key findings. First, the location of schools within the urban structure, and in relation to neighbouring suburbs, plays a significant role in shaping commuting patterns from adjoining municipalities. A broad and unsurprising tendency was observed: pupils from a given suburban municipality typically commute to schools situated in those sectors of the city which lie – broadly speaking – between their municipality and the city centre. Second, pupils residing in suburban municipalities predominantly travelled to non-public schools. Such institutions are scarce within the suburban zone of Poznań and frequently provide alternative pedagogical models distinct from those offered by mainstream public schooling. Third, in the case of public primary schools, their specific location within Poznań influenced not only the direction of commuting flows from surrounding municipalities but also the absolute number of suburban pupils and their share within the total school enrolment. By contrast, for non-public schools, location affected the directionality of commuting but had no significant bearing on pupil numbers or their proportion of the school population. Schools located near the municipal boundary attracted pupils predominantly from adjacent suburbs – a pattern described here as “directional attractiveness” – whereas those situated closer to the city centre drew pupils from across the entire suburban belt, exemplifying what we term “dispersed attractiveness”.