Upward mobility and questions of belonging in migrant families

Introduction to the Special Issue Social Mobility and Identity Formation. This special issue analyses the question of the effects of processes of intergenerational upward social mobility in a thematic context which, at the same time, adds and highlights certain dimensions in both aspects of social mobility: (a) the specific structural barriers and conditions for immigrants and their children to insert themselves into the given social structure of the ‘receiving’ society; and (b) the implications of moving up the educational and/ or professional ladder in relation to their parents – and mostly also the majority of their peers from school and neighbourhood – for subjective feelings of belonging and being ‘admitted’ to social spheres whose codes do not correspond to those learned in childhood and youth, but that have also frequently not been particularly characterised so far by cultural and/or ethnic diversity

School staff's views on causes of early school leaving in regular secondary and adult education: Identifying the role of individual, job‐related and school climate characteristics

Understanding early school leaving (ESL) remains a key issue on political and academic agendas. Most research focuses on the experiences of young people who intend to leave or have left school early without a qualification from secondary education. In addition, most studies focus on regular secondary schools. We aim to add to this literature by studying how school staff in regular secondary and adult education schools explain ESL, and to understand how both groups' views differ. We also study whether school climate has an effect on the explanations of ESL given by staff. We analysed survey data collected in Flanders (northern part of Belgium) among 780 staff members using exploratory factor analysis and multilevel modelling. Findings indicate that staff in adult education have moderate views on the causes of ESL compared to staff in regular education. Staff in adult education have a strong focus on student-focused explanations for ESL, rather than on contextual or systemic explanations. Future research could delve deeper into the impact of school characteristics, conduct more cross-comparative research and/or include more views on diversity. Policymakers could prioritise the follow-up of ESL, including feedback mechanisms to inform school staff on reasons why individual students decided to leave school early

Dropping down the cascade system: comparing the educational trajectories and perceptions towards tracking between and within ethnic minority and majority students in Belgium

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Minority students’ responses to racism : the case of Cyprus

While research has focused on the role of racism in (re)producing ethnic/racial inequalities in education, there is very little research that investigates how variability in minority students' responses to racism can be explained. By using an ecological approach to integrate existing research on actors' responses to racism, this study finds that researchers have generally neglected factors and processes situated at the micro- and meso-levels of analysis. Qualitative interview data with Turkish-Cypriot children enrolled in schools in the predominantly Greek-speaking part of the Republic of Cyprus are used to investigate their strategies in response to racism and the factors that explain the observed variability in their responses. The findings suggest the importance of and interactions between factors situated at different levels of analysis, including the level of organizations and social groups and face-to-face interactions in explaining variability in young people's responses to racism

Migration and Environmental Change in Morocco

This open access book studies the migration aspirations and trajectories of people living in two regions in Morocco that are highly affected by environmental change or emigration, namely Tangier and Tinghir, as well as the migration trajectories of immigrants coming from these regions currently living in Belgium. This book departs from the development of a new theoretical framework on the relationship between environmental changes and migration that can be applied to the Moroccan case. Qualitative research conducted in both countries demonstrate how the interplay between migration and environmental factors is not as straightforward as it seems, due to its wider social, political, economic, demographic and environmental context. Findings show how existing cultures of migration, remittances, views on nature and discourses on climate change create distinct abilities, capacities and aspirations to migrate due to environmental changes. The results illustrate how migration and environmental factors evolve gradually and mutually influence each other. In doing so, this book offers new insights in the ways migration can be seen as an adaptation strategy to deal with environmental change in Morocco

Migrants’ perspectives on environmental change and translocal practices in Morocco, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of Congo

peer reviewedThis qualitative study takes a translocal perspective by considering migrants’ views on environmental change, migration decisions and translocal practices in favour of environmental adaptation. This article addresses the following question: To what extent do migrants’ perceptions of environmental change in their region of origin influence their translocal practices in favour of adaptation to socio-environmental change? Our data show that while environmental change may not be the primary reason that people migrate, nor do they perceive it as such, their translocal practices may have very concrete impacts in environmentally fragile areas, especially with respect to non-migrants in the place of origin. Most practices (e.g. family economic remittances) are spontaneous and unintentionally adaptive to environmental change. In contrast, collective projects initiated through hometown associations, especially in Senegal and Morocco, often have a more intentional and proactive character, resulting in translocal adaptive socio-environmental dynamics.MIGRADAPT - Making Migration Work for Adaptation to Environmental Changes – A Belgian Appraisa

A Migration Project in Retrospect: The Case of the Ageing Zero Generation in Emirdağ

In the twentieth century, Emirdağ (Turkey) witnessed extensive emigration and is now home to the ‘zero generation’: a group of elderly people who stayed behind when their children moved abroad. We investigate how these elderly people, with at least one child who left the country, evaluate their situation as they have grown older. Using fieldwork observations and in-depth interviews, we found that this group mainly associated the migration of their offspring with loneliness and exclusion from society, due to separation from their children and changes in the traditional family culture. The respondents clearly note a shift in the social position of family elders in Turkish culture, from highly respected to being ignored and looked down upon. While this change in status might be experienced by all elderly inhabitants of the region, feelings of distress were reinforced by an emerging discourse which suggests the migration project is a failed enterprise. The constraints their children experience in the immigrant country have led the zero generation to rely less on them and become more dependent on their own resources. Future research on ageing, migration and transnational care should focus on the different ways in which migration systems evolve, and the long-term effects on social inclusion of all generations