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Schooling and life projects : experiences and perspectives of migrant and minority ethnic youth in England and Spain
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Rübner Jørgensen, Clara (2011) Schooling and life projects : experiences and perspectives of migrant and minority ethnic youth in England and Spain. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2665776~S1
Abstract
This thesis is a discussion of the way young people of migrant and minority ethnic background experience schooling and plan for their futures within two different national contexts - England and Spain. It is based on a comparative and ethnographic fieldwork which I carried out in Birmingham and Madrid over the course of 14 months in 2007-2009. As part of the research, I did particular observation at a school in each city and interviewed a total of 54 young people. The thesis presents how they described their life at school, their plans and wishes for the future, and the influences which they considered important to their schooling and future lives.
The education of migrant and minority ethnic groups is a topic that increasingly appears
in public and political debates in Europe. Reports and research often describe education
as crucial to socio-economic well-being and empowerment, but they also show a
tendency among migrant and minority ethnic groups to be disadvantaged in terms of
education. The literature presents a number of ways to understand this phenomenon and
shows that schooling is affected by many complex and interlinking issues. Comparative
research has good potential for exploring these complexities, but there is a gap within
the existing comparative literature. Most comparative studies of migrant and minority
ethnic youth in education are quantitative and analyse the situation of either large
categories of young people or distinct ethnic or national groups. Furthermore, these
studies focus almost exclusively on achievement and attainment. Thus, there is a lack of
qualitative comparative research, which explores how young people from a variety of
ethnic or national backgrounds experience schooling and plan for their future, and
which discusses their experiences from a more holistic and contextual perspective.
In this thesis I respond to this gap. I analyse the experiences of young people from a
mixture of ethnic and national backgrounds. The data has been collected using
qualitative ethnographic research methods. Finally, the findings are shaped by my
informants’ narratives and perceptions and this has given the thesis a broader
perspective than the traditional focus on achievement and attainment.
The main findings arising from the data was the importance of social relations in
influencing young people’s schooling experiences and life projects. Friends and family
were described as particularly influential in providing support and socio-emotional wellbeing.
In the thesis I analyse these findings through the lens of social capital. I argue
that socio-emotional well-being should be considered a resource in itself and included in
social capital theory. However, the analysis also shows that young people of migrant
and minority ethnic origin do not all have the same conditions for accessing this
‘resource of well-being’. The thesis therefore concludes with a number of practical
recommendations, aimed to improve the inclusion and general well-being of migrant
and minority ethnic youth in schools.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology L Education > LB Theory and practice of education |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Children of minorities -- Education -- England -- Research, Children of minorities -- Education -- Spain -- Research, Education -- Social aspects -- England, Education -- Social aspects -- Spain | ||||
Official Date: | May 2011 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | School of Health and Social Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Joly, Danièle; Christensen, Pia H. | ||||
Extent: | viii, 328 leaves. | ||||
Language: | eng |
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