YOUNG ADULT IMMIGRANTS IN EUROPE: BECOMING AN ACTIVE CITIZEN - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

YOUNG ADULT IMMIGRANTS IN EUROPE: BECOMING AN ACTIVE CITIZEN

Findings from the EUMARGINS project By Katrine Fangen

Citizens in the making

• In youth sociology, citizenship is often equated with adult
• status. The elements of citizenship include political

participation and legal entitlement, commitment to shared values, community responsibilities and active civic participation , as well as leaving home, establishing a family, getting an education and starting to work.

• They all have to do with being an active participant in society,

and with taking responsibility of oneself instead of being dependent on others.

• From this perspective, young people are citizens in the

making, apprentices, not yet ready for adult citizenship status.

Transition to adulthood

• Specifically interesting is the connection between

citizenship in the sense of becoming responsible and the transition to adulthood.

• The adolescent phase: a series of interrelated

transitions between childhood and adulthood.

• The social milestones of the transition process

relate to the major spheres of social life: education, work, peer group, leisure activities, cultural and political participation, and family.

• This is in line with the life‐story approach to the

study of young adults

Questions guiding the presentation

• The transition from youth to adulthood for four young

people living in five different European countries.

• What characterized their transition from youth to

adulthood and their simultaneous transition to becoming integrated in another country?

• What factors opened up for them and what factors

hindered their way to achieving full citizenship in the broad meaning of the word (not only in the sense of naturalization)?

• What implications does their experiences have for

European politics?

Mahmoud: 20 cents nothing else

• Came to Italy through family reunion with his father when he was
• 11. He received 20 Euros from his father, and after that he has

received nothing.

• Already the day after his arrival, his father wanted him to start

school and work after school.

• When his father wanted him to drop school at 14 in order to work

fulltime, he left home for good, because he wanted to pursue further education.

• Went to live with his uncle in Genoa.
• Managed to go to school and to work in the evenings and

weekends and has succeeded in surviving.

• Wants to study journalism and has worked hard thus received more

permanent work conditions as a barman at a hotel.

Barriers and opportunities in Italy

• Mahmoud: Became adult very early in the sense that he

had to earn his own living.

• Managed in school because of support of a teacher
• His wish to pursue higher education means he must work

in the evenings and the weekends. He manages but at the cost of having no free time. Hard to build a family on these terms.

• Worked well and managed to get an offer of more

permanent contract in the bar where he works.

• The barrier of the Italian system that immigrants must

work in order to stay. Bossi Fini law. No loan or scholarship to support education.

Marc: The Contrasting Worlds of Private and Public Education

• Moved to Spain from the Philippines when he was 6 years old
• Lives in suburb outside Barcelona, enormous high‐rise blocks
• Father works in a metal factory. Managed to buy a flat.
• Wanted to live away from social problems, but did not

manage, since there is plenty of this in the neighbourhood they live in

• For a while, Marc was involved in drug dealing, but strove for

getting a better life.

• His parents worked hard to get enough money to enrol Marc

in a private school, and after that he managed to get out of delinquency and receive good grades.

• In the public school there were more immigrants, in the

private school, the others look at him as different

Marc continued

• Plans to train to be an electrician for practical reasons,

but would ideally like to study journalism

• The financial crisis has exacerbated discrimination,

people say his parents came to Spain to take their jobs

• He has had many negative encounters with the local

police

• Many native friends but prefers to be with other people

from the Philippines

• Rents a music studio and likes to make music with a

political message. Makes him feel like he is proactive in addressing the social problems he witnesses, rather than a complaint or frustration of living in a hopeless situation.

Barriers and opportunities in Spain

• Suburbs with high frequency of social problems
• For Marc the solution was when his parents were

able to afford private school.

• Financial crisis makes the climate harder for

immigrants.

• Choice of practical education in order to secure the

future.

• Have a meaningful life by making music thematizing

the problems

Barbara: growing up in a disadvantaged area

• Barbara is a 20‐year‐old French‐Moroccan woman who

considers herself part of the multicultural population of the suburb Haute de Livré and finds the ‘outside world’ racist.

• Studied at a local school and blames her teacher’s weak

ability ‘to motivate’ her, particularly since she was not fond of

• school. Dropped out before finishing her diploma in

secretarial work. Has only basic secondary vocational school and is considered an ‘unskilled’ job‐seeker.

• Her low position in the workforce has her trying to seek a

diploma to work in a leisure/pre‐school environment (where she is employed now giving children school support). She also has a sub‐contract for unemployed young people working at a leisure centre in the weekends.

Barriers and opportunities in France

• There have been given extra resources to schools in zones of

disadvantage in France, but this has not managed to

• vercome the huge problems.
• For Barbara the future is in the neighbourhood, to be active in

social work, but she sees no future in higher education. She sees the social problems of the neighbourhood, but personally feels safe there. It is the outside world she experiences as racist.

• Contrast to Isabelle: Another of our French interviewees who

managed to perform well in school, but chose a school

• utside the neighbourhood. She also, more than Barbara,

chooses to assimilate, thus accepting the dominant French policy regarding ’the will to become French’.

Haile: The will to succeed

• Came to Norway from Ethiopia as a youth. After attending a

reception class, placed in a class where he was the only immigrant.

• Had a hard time learning Norwegian initially, and he was

bullied by one of the pupils. However, worked hard and soon his Norwegian language fluency improved. Used all his time

• n school work. Made several friends, but tried to spend as

much time on school work as possible, minimizing his time spent on friends. After four years, successfully completed upper secondary school.

• Part of the reason why education is important for Haile can

be seen in light of his family background. Haile’s mother was a teacher in Ethiopia, and his step father who was a head teacher in Ethiopia, now works as a bus driver.

Haile continued

• One teacher was crucial in his personal development, by
• ffering support. Was always willing to answer his

questions and met Haile after school hours. The teacher is also Christian, like Haile, and has travelled repeatedly to

• Ethiopia. This may have partly formed the basis for their

friendship, which also outlasted Haile’s schooldays.

• When the teacher heard that he had got a job as a nurse

and was contemplating taking up nursing studies, he said Haile should study nursing where there is plenty of work for immigrants. This was confirmed by Haile’s own enquiries at the nursing home where he worked, so he

• pted for this line of study.
• He did not take a gap year and has chosen to not work

alongside his studies, but instead dedicates himself fully to

• them. Has no time for getting married before after finished

studying

Barriers and opportunities in Norway

• Hard to get a job and hard to get his previous

education from Ethiopia acknowledged.

• However, through network he received a job at a

nursing home. Health and social services is a sector with possibilities for immigrants.

• Hard to learn the language, but reception class helps

and also support of the teacher

• Free access to education, makes it possible for Haile

to devote his full time to this, without having to work along with studying

Policy implications

• Transition from youth to adulthood: Often involves
• ffers: have to study and work, problem to prioritise
• friends. Becoming adult earlier than the native

youth.

• The struggle to get access to the best schools.

Neighbourhood schools and public schools loaded with problems. Better access to high quality schools for immigrants needed and also free education

• The importance of adult support: a teacher, an adult

relative a friend – the networks that counts. This could alternatively be organised through NGOs, lessons help, community centres

Recommendations

• Invest more extensively on language teaching for young

migrants who arrive in the country after the formal schooling

• age. Those countries that do not have reception classes or

introductory programs should consider looking into such policies in the countries that have implemented this.

• More resources should be provided to schools with high

amount of pupils with immigrant background.

• School advisors should encourage pupils to follow their

interests and to have realistic goals based on their grade

• level. Good pupils encouraged to aim high, pupils who

struggle in school encouraged to more vocational training

• There should be an effort made in all countries to avoid

young migrants ending up in the irregular labor market with poor social rights.