This research analyses school-family relationship from the point of view of migrant parents in Italy, focusing on practices and representations through which social and cultural dis-continuity are maintained, re-invented and transformed into inequalities. Several studies have shown an association between socio-economic resources and “ethnic” inequalities in education and labor market for second generations, trying to weight explanatory factors according to nation of origin. Within this frame rarely migrant family is understood as a whole. Ethnocentric perspectives inhibit to identify within and between families variations in daily reproduction of social differences. Information about this topic collected only from the children are necessarily incomplete. This research tries to go beyond “methodological nationalism”, considering family as a unit of analysis and examining micro-interactive processes. The goals of the study are twofold: to investigate how parents try to socialize their children to cultural identities and values of both family and school (and contradictions between the two); and to explore how parents imagine socioeconomic inclusion of their children in the receiving country. The research attempts to answer the following questions: how migrant parents influence the career in education of their children, (not) negotiating with teachers and educators specific aspects of school routine such as evaluation processes, school orientation, formal and informal norms? Scholars have pointed out that migrant parents nurture "high aspirations" towards children education, but they do not offer adequate learning support. Is this true? If so, what processes are involved? The institutional context has been defined using quantitative and qualitative secondary data. Then I have analysed 54 semi-structured qualitative interviews addressed to 31 migrant parents and 23 of their children coming from different geographical areas, sampled in Piedmont from secondary schools characterised by dissimilar curricula and percentage of immigrant students. Teachers and educators have been involved as key informants.
Transnational socio-cultural (re)production inside and outside of the Italian schools: otherness and participation of migrant parents
SANTERO, ARIANNA
2014-01-01
Abstract
This research analyses school-family relationship from the point of view of migrant parents in Italy, focusing on practices and representations through which social and cultural dis-continuity are maintained, re-invented and transformed into inequalities. Several studies have shown an association between socio-economic resources and “ethnic” inequalities in education and labor market for second generations, trying to weight explanatory factors according to nation of origin. Within this frame rarely migrant family is understood as a whole. Ethnocentric perspectives inhibit to identify within and between families variations in daily reproduction of social differences. Information about this topic collected only from the children are necessarily incomplete. This research tries to go beyond “methodological nationalism”, considering family as a unit of analysis and examining micro-interactive processes. The goals of the study are twofold: to investigate how parents try to socialize their children to cultural identities and values of both family and school (and contradictions between the two); and to explore how parents imagine socioeconomic inclusion of their children in the receiving country. The research attempts to answer the following questions: how migrant parents influence the career in education of their children, (not) negotiating with teachers and educators specific aspects of school routine such as evaluation processes, school orientation, formal and informal norms? Scholars have pointed out that migrant parents nurture "high aspirations" towards children education, but they do not offer adequate learning support. Is this true? If so, what processes are involved? The institutional context has been defined using quantitative and qualitative secondary data. Then I have analysed 54 semi-structured qualitative interviews addressed to 31 migrant parents and 23 of their children coming from different geographical areas, sampled in Piedmont from secondary schools characterised by dissimilar curricula and percentage of immigrant students. Teachers and educators have been involved as key informants.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
