Educational Strategies of Minority Youth and the Social Constructions of Ethnicity

Abstract

In the European epoch of the knowledge society, education has become increasingly important. It is both a central pillar of the welfare society and a decisive resource of social mobility and positioning that together explain the outstanding importance of academic qualifications. The increasingly complex conditions in education are part of the currents of social mobility generally, and ethnic mobility in particular. In this chapter, I consider the experience of education among young people from ethnic minority backgrounds, their descriptions of success or failure, and the role of their socioeconomic positions, gender and ethnicity in shaping their achievements. I shall examine how minority students view their future and see education as a factor in shaping their pathway to adulthood. The field material providing the basis for the discussions consists of interviews with students in their concluding year of compulsory education and also with their parents. The observations of different minority groups in the nine countries participating in the EDUMIGROM research programme will reveal a variety of educational strategies that cut across ethnic backgrounds and national contexts, and are influenced by a series of factors, such as socioeconomic positions, residential segregation of schools, and various forms of racism and discrimination.