Elif Keskiner

Success against the Odds—Educational pathways of disadvantaged second-generation Turks in France and the Netherlands

By drawing on comparative analyses of successful second-generation Turks from disadvantaged family backgrounds in France and the Netherlands, this article examines pathways and mechanisms that lead to educational success against the backdrop of structural and familial disadvantages. We foreground the experiences and practices of successful second-generation Turks in both countries and demonstrate the importance of institutional arrangements and their interactions with individual resources to account for their success. We use data from the “The Integration of the European Second Generation” (TIES) survey to reconstruct school careers and to inventory opportunities and constraints presented to them in the most important selection processes. We illustrate our findings with life stories drawn from qualitative interviews with TIES respondents in both settings. Combining the results of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis allows us to unravel the mechanisms of the educational success of second-generation Turks from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Student employment among descendants of Turkish migrants in Amsterdam and Strasbourg

Abstract This article compares and contrasts the nature of student employment experience in Amsterdam and Strasbourg among descendants of Turkish migrants. The analysis relies on in-depth qualitative interviews revealing the experience of student employment and the impact of working while studying on the educational careers and future labour market transitions. The comparative design of the study uncovered the role of distinct institutional structures in education systems and labour markets, which proved more strenuous for combining work and study in Strasbourg compared to Amsterdam. Parental support and high educational aspirations of the students turned out crucial to counterbalance the potential negative impact of working on students’ school careers, while working in their area of study facilitated beneficial consequences for students’ future labour market careers. The article highlights the interaction between institutional structures and social class background as well as gender dynamics.

The upcoming new elite among children of immigrants: a cross-country and cross-sector comparison

ABSTRACT The European-born children of immigrants, often referred to as the second generation, play an important role in the academic debate about integration and assimilation. The successful second generation, defined in terms of possessing a higher education diploma and or professional position, receives increasing attention. In this special issue, we will look at the most successful group: the upcoming “elite” among the descendants of migrants from Turkey, based on data gathered in the ELITES, Pathways to Success project. In this research project we deliberately selected on the dependent variable: being professionally successful in managerial jobs in the corporate business sector, the corporate law sector and the education sector.

The multiplier effect: how the accumulation of cultural and social capital explains steep upward social mobility of children of low-educated immigrants

ABSTRACT We introduce what we have coined the multiplier effect. We explain the steep upward mobility of children of low-educated immigrants by studying how they overcome obstacles on their regular pathway, via alternative routes or through loopholes in the education and labour market system. The idea of the multiplier effect is that they virtually propel themselves forward in their careers. Essential is that each successful step forward offers new possibilities on which they build, thereby accumulating cultural and social capital and multiplying their chances of success. Initial small differences with their less successful co-ethnic peers generate an increasingly wider gap over time. Cultural and social capital theories primarily explain the reproduction of inequalities in society. The multiplier effect explains the breaking of the perpetual cycle of this reproduction, enabling steep upward mobility even when this group does not initially possess the right cultural and social capital to be successful.

Bonding or bridging? Professional network organizations of second-generation Turks in the Netherlands and France

ABSTRACT This article analyses network organizations founded by descendants of Turkish migrants in the Netherlands and France. By surveying members of two such organizations and interviewing several of their board members, we learn how these organizations function, their success in building and extending social networks, and their efficacy at improving labour market prospects for young second-generation professionals of Turkish descent. Our findings reveal a hybrid structure, whereby the organizations gear many of their activities towards mainstream society. In comparison to traditional immigrant organizations, their attitude is more open to other social groups, yet they still have a clear stronghold in the ethnic immigrant community. We conclude that ethnicity is not the main element in the successful second generation’s organizing process. Factors such as educational trajectories, professional ambitions, feelings of responsibility for other members and newly acquired socioeconomic status are the main reasons for this group to organize.

How to reach the top? Fields, forms of capital, and strategies in accessing leadership positions in France among descendants of migrants from Turkey

ABSTRACT This article explores the experiences of highly educated descendants of migrants from Turkey when achieving leading positions in the corporate business, education, and law sectors in France. It illustrates the forms of capital and strategies that are considered significant for accessing leadership positions in these sectors, and how experiences vary across different fields. Our research illuminates the various strategies pursued by descendants of migrants from Turkey in their pathways to attaining leadership positions, and suggests how similar forms of capital work in distinct ways across different sectors.

Conclusion : Lessons learned from the RESL.eu project: Main findings and policy advice

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.

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.

No Lost Generation? Education for Refugee Children: A Comparison Between Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands and Turkey

The research debate covering the so-called ‘refugee crises in Europe’ has largely been addressing issues like border control, EU policies – or the lack thereof – and the political backlash in the form of anti-immigrant sentiments. Follow-up questions about the integration of refugees and 1 We would like to thank Alireza Behtoui for helping us find relevant English language literature on Sweden for this paper. their children into society, education and work are now slowly appearing on the agenda too. Although the current attention to the issue of the integration of the children of refugees into education is recent, several researchers in Europe have addressed the question for previous waves of refugees. The findings of one of the largest European studies on the topic, Integrace, a comparative study which includes Sweden and the Netherlands among other EU Member States, will figure prominently in this paper. Next to this study there are smaller national and local studies that are often descriptive or evaluate examples of so-called good practice in cities and schools.