Laure Moguérou

Educational Trajectories and Transition to Employment of the Second Generation

This chapter examines the key stages in the diverse educational trajectories of immigrants’ descendants and DOM native-borns in the French educational system, up to their entry into working life. Several indicators of educational trajectory or status are analysed, distinguishing systematically between males and females, and taking account of the national origins of immigrants’ descendants: repeated years at primary school, tracks followed at upper secondary level, early school leaving, likelihood of obtaining a high-school diploma, failure in higher education. The results reveal inequalities in academic trajectories and achievement by ethnic background and gender, and show that these inequalities do not always reflect differences in social capital and family environment. In the male population especially, we cannot rule out the hypothesis that certain categories of immigrants’ descendants are exposed to discrimination in schools. The chapter ends with an analysis of transition from education to employment (time taken to find a job, experience of unemployment, job market integration, etc.) that reveals a segmentation of the entry into working life by country of origin. The sons, but also the daughters of immigrants from North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Turkey have greater difficulties finding a first job.