Christiane Timmerman

The second generation in Belgium

A growing proportion of second-generation Moroccan and Turkish youngsters in Belgium are moving on to higher secondary education and beyond. This trend is greater among Moroccan youngsters than among their Turkish peers. Turkish girls in particular are still married off at a young age, which inevitably affects their educational opportunities. Despite higher participation rates for youngsters from immigrant backgrounds, the educational gap with Belgian pupils and students remains wide. This is largely attributable to differences in socioeconomic background. It appears that the concentration of second-generation immigrant pupils in certain schools is also a major explanatory factor. Despite their increased participation in education, second-generation immigrants are still not well represented in the labor market and they are, moreover, employed mostly in less favorable segments of that market. An interesting development among second-generation immigrants is the polarization that is taking place in relation to the significance of Islam. A growing number of second-generation youngsters are opting for a more secular way of life, while an increasingly large group is choosing Islamist ideologies or at least a more conscious form of Islam. For young people of the second generation, who often have little to hold on to socially, Islamism can provide a transparent, supportive, and all-embracing frame of reference.

Gender Dynamics in the Context of Turkish Marriage Migration: The Case of Belgium

Abstract This study focuses on gender aspects of Turkish migration to Western Europe, more specifically to Belgium. During the last few decades, marriage has become one of the few means for Turks to settle legally in Western Europe. On the basis of empirical data, mostly gathered using qualitative research methodologies, it is found that the interference between marriage and migration proves to be a crucial element in evaluating gender dimensions and the consequences for participation and integration in society and the socialization of future generations within Turkish communities in Western Europe. Arranged marriages fit well with migration ambitions of both the established Turkish communities in Western Europe and the emigration areas in Turkey. The strong Turkish nationalistic identification within the Turkish communities in Western Europe and the often hostile climate in which they live, give fuel to the continuation of these dynamics. Marriage being generally framed within the traditional cultural setting undergoes crucial modifications in the context of migration that have an influence on gender roles. Traditional gender roles are often accentuated but prove to be rather inadequate for adjusting to Western society.

Marriage in a ‘Culture of Migration’. Emirdag Marrying into Flanders

The persistently high popularity of migration marriages within large immigrant populations in Western Europe is an intriguing phenomenon. Why do so many young people born and raised in Western Europe opt for an unknown partner coming from a region that, although it is where their parents or grandparents came from, is by and large unknown to them personally? This contribution attempts to shed some light on the dynamics of this particular kind of migration which impacts significantly on the social fabric of Western European societies. Our focus here is specifically on the Belgian case, namely the so-called ‘Emirdag connection’. In Belgium, the majority of immigrants with a Turkish background come from the region of Emirdag, in the province of Afyon. Over the last 40 years a close relationship has been established between this region of emigration and a number of Turkish communities in Flanders and Brussels. Over the last decade chain migration became for most the most popular means to enter Belgium; in other words, the majority of newcomers arrived in Belgium as (future) spouses of Belgian residents. This certainly applies to Turkish migration. Particular to the Turkish residents in Belgium, including the second generation, is that the majority still marry a person who grew up in Turkey.

Polish immigration in Belgium since 2004 : new dynamics of migration and integration?

Belgium has been a traditional destination for Polish immigrants since the 19th century. In the period after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Polish migration to Belgium was largely characterized by pendulum movements and illegal stays, but following Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004, the Belgian labour market was gradually opened to Polish citizens. To date, this new situation has not been the subject of research, and we therefore present the first analysis of the impact of EU enlargement on Poles in Belgium. By means of semi-structured interviews with both Polish key informants and Polish families, we illustrate the extent to which Polish migration and integration patterns have changed. Our results lead us to conclude that Poles are increasingly opting for longer and more permanent stays, which means that Polish migration no longer follows the pendulum pattern. Although this implies increased orientation toward Belgian society, it does not entirely preclude any attachment to Polish culture and identity. This confirms a widely accepted insight from migration studies: the desire to integrate in structural societal spheres does not reduce the importance that migrants attach to aspects they consider crucial to staying in touch and identifying with their regions of origin.

The Relevance of a "Culture of Migration" in Understanding Migration Aspirations in Contemporary Turkey

Abstract This article investigates the relevance of the presence of a “culture of migration” and related migration feedback mechanisms for explaining migration aspirations. This study focuses on the districts of Dinar and Emirdağ in Turkey—which have a distinct migration history toward Europe. The question is raised whether and how migration aspirations of potential migrants change according to the presence of a “culture of migration”—living in a migration-impacted region or not. This study relies on data collected in these two regions on the basis of a representative survey and in-depth interviews collected in the context of the EUMAGINE project (2010–13). Migration aspirations in a region characterized by a “culture of migration”—Emirdağ—prove to be significantly lower than that in a similar socioeconomic region, but with no “culture of migration”—Dinar. Perceptions of the economic opportunities in Europe and of the working and living conditions of immigrants in Europe are more negative in the migration-impacted region of Emirdağ than in Dinar. It is interesting to note that the population in Emirdağ has still a similar (positive) vision on the democratic and human rights capital in Europe, as the population in Dinar.

Undocumented children and the right to education: Illusory right or empowering lever?

In migration control policies, social rights are often restricted in order to discourage immigration. The right to education seems to be the exception to the rule. This paper examines whether the right to education – beyond legal technical questions of the personal scope of application of human rights treaties, and the nature and the meaning of the right – is able to provide empowering leverage to undocumented children, or rather remains a lofty ideal on paper. Empirical data are drawn from the Belgian situation. Sociological research has shown that while quantitative educational democratisation has been highly successful, qualitative educational democratisation remains problematic. With regard to undocumented children, real-life limitations to school access (both individual and institutional), as well as psycho-social and institutional impediments during the schooling process seriously limit equal schooling and life opportunities. Unequal responses to organisational and pedagogical challenges that the presence of mobile students puts to schools, reinforce institutional factors of educational inequality for undocumented children. A key factor in understanding the tension between the legal recognition of the human right to education and daily realities is the outright contradiction between the approaches towards education on the one hand, and to migration more generally on the other hand. The latter is increasingly dominated by a securisation ideology.

Imagining Europe from the Outside: The Role of Perceptions of Human Rights in Europe in Migration Aspirations in Turkey, Morocco, Senegal and Ukraine

During the last decade, debates about the meaning of Europe have been prominent in various disciplines (Christiansen et al., 2001; Malmborg and Strath, 2002; De Teyssier and Baudier, 2006; Wilson and Millar, 2007). With the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to 28 Member states, discussions about what exactly Europe is and where it is going are gaining importance (Strath, 2006). However, perceptions of Europe are usually studied from within the EU. In contrast, perceptions of Europe from the viewpoint of non-EU states and their citizens remain largely unexplored — although the field is growing, as this volume demonstrates. The concept of Europe is now of interest not only to European societies but also elsewhere in the world (Wilson and Millar, 2007). Human rights and democracy are central features of the EU, also in its international policies and in its migration and asylum policies. The international EUMAGINE research project,3 which ran from 2010 until 2013 covering four major emigration and so-called transit countries, studied the links between such outside perceptions of the democracy and human rights of Europe and the desire to migrate to Europe. Given that democracy and human rights are core values of the EU, the focus on the role of perceptions of human rights and democracy in migration aspirations and decision-making fits in with (EU) policy as well as academic needs.

Breaking the in‐group out‐group: shifting boundaries in transnational partner choice processes of individuals of Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian, Turkish, Punjabi Sikh, Pakistani and Albanian descent in Belgium

The ongoing popularity in some second and third generation migrants in Western Europe of marrying a partner from the countries of origin of their (grand)parents is considered to be problematic for micro and macro level societal integration of some migrant populations. Partner choice and marriage practices in migrant communities are problematized in public, media and political discourses by discriminating them from marriage practices in the ‘native’ population on the basis of three related dichotomies: (1) agency versus structure, (2) us versus them and (3) romantic versus instrumental marriage intentions dichotomies. By means of in-depth qualitative research methodologies on the partner choice processes of women and men of Turkish, Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Punjabi Sikh, Pakistani and Albanian descent in Belgium and an intersectional theoretical approach, this article aims to deconstruct popular and simplifying dichotomous representations of partner choice processes in these migrant populations. Our study reveals how religious, gender and social class boundaries are stretched to meet personal/individual desires and preferences. Individuals do experience social restrictions when it concerns social group boundaries and the potential partners that they can look for. At the same time individuals are never fully determined by their social environment, they creatively develop strategies to by-pass certain restrictions and to some extent are able to meet their personal needs while being sensitive to the desires of their social environment.

Switching practices in vocational education: A comparative case study in Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands

Various studies have shown how institutional arrangements in education determine further education and occupational opportunities. By combining the wider literature on the effects of institutional arrangements with the studies on pupils’ aspirations, this chapter aims to explore how institutional arrangements in education may influence pupils’ aspirations. For this, we contrast the stories of two 15-year-old ethnic white working-class girls with a similar aspiration, but attending two internationally very different schools, namely a Dutch lower vocational secondary school, and an English state-funded comprehensive secondary school. Their stories were recorded over a two-year period as part of a larger ethnographic study on the aspiration of ethnic white working-class girls in secondary schools. Through the concepts, reasons and resources of pupils’ aspirations these stories will be analysed to unravel how specific features in the Dutch and English education systems influence the distinctive ways of shaping their aspirations.Ethnic and social inequalities in education are persistent in Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands, and these inequalities can be strengthened or weakened through particular features of educational systems. In this chapter, we focus on one particular aspect that shapes the educational routes of young people to acquire an educational qualification, namely switching practices. We aim to shed light on and compare the switching practices between fields of study/tracks during one’s educational trajectory, in and outside mainstream vocational secondary education. Our findings indicate that in both systems, youngsters had distinct institutionalized opportunities to change track/field of study during their educational career. In the Dutch educational system, youngsters are more institutionally supported when changing from more vocational to more academic tracks or fields of study. In Flanders, youngsters could more easily change between fields of study within the vocational track during the academic year, which could help them to more efficiently discover a field of study that matches their interests and abilities, but also lead to more confusion, random changes and a lack of direction. In both systems, policy makers should pay more attention to the guidance of students when making choices, across educational programmes, institutions and schools.The concluding chapter presents policy advice synthesised from the five-year findings and publications of the Reducing Early School Leaving in Europe (RESL.eu) project. The first section offers insights gleaned from extensive qualitative research on mainstream secondary education and alternative learning pathways in the project’s data collection countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. We present an evaluation of intervention, prevention and compensatory measures for all seven countries, pinpointing effective measures as well as challenges in implementing them. Drawing on RESL.eu survey data and qualitative fieldwork, the second section discusses the significant protective factors for school engagement. We provide an overview of patterns in early school leaving (ESL) and main protective factors identified per country. The chapter closes with national comparisons and recommendations, relevant for school stakeholders, school-level policy makers and other interested parties.

How to support and engage students in alternative forms of education and training? A qualitative study of school staff members in Flanders

Abstract This study focuses on how students, who for a variety of reasons struggle in mainstream secondary schools, can be supported and engaged by alternative forms of education and training to attain a (formal) qualification. Interviews and focus groups are carried out with school staff members of distinct types of alternative learning arenas in Flanders (northern part of Belgium): second chance secondary education, part-time apprenticeship track and part-time work-based vocational education. Our analyses reveal that, due to the selectiveness of mainstream secondary education, staff members in alternative learning arenas mainly struggle with the ways to develop inclusive curricula/practices and with the actual content of the curricula of their educational training or programme they are supposed to teach. Staff members struggle with putting into practice the fundamental aim to prepare socially vulnerable students for their future lives. Debates within the school team focus upon the relative importance of transferrable, specialist and social skills and competences. Results of this study are discussed to further enhance the professionalisation of school teams, and can be seen as the starting point to specify and develop the curriculum taught in both alternative learning arenas and mainstream secondary education.