Noel Clycq

Researching race/ethnicity and educational inequality in the Netherlands: A critical review of the research literature between 1980 and 2008

This article describes and critically analyzes how educational sociologists in the Netherlands have studied the relationship between race/ethnicity and educational inequality between 1980 and 2008. Five major research traditions are identified: (1) political arithmetic; (2) racism and ethnic discrimination; (3) school characteristics; (4) school choice; and (5) family background. The development of particular research traditions is explained by pointing to more general developments in terms of social policy and intellectual climate in the Netherlands. This study builds on a similar, recently published literature review that focuses on the UK context by critically comparing the development and findings from these different bodies of research literature. The conclusions suggest that the Netherlands, like England, developed strong research traditions in this area of research since the 1980s and that both countries can learn from each other and advance future research in this area by developing more comprehen...

The Role of Teacher–Pupil Relations in Stereotype Threat Effects in Flemish Secondary Education

This study aims to test stereotype threat theory hypotheses using a pupil survey database from Flemish urban secondary education characterized by a stratified tracking system. We relate these systemic features to stereotype threat effects by adding teacher–pupil relations to our analyses. Our results show that stigmatized groups—ethnic minority pupils in vocational education—experience the most negative teacher–pupil relations. To protect their academic self-concept from stereotype threat, they are also most vulnerable to psychological disengagement, discounting negative teacher feedback, and to disidentification from education. Moreover, teacher–pupil relations play an important role in explaining stereotype threat effects.

From ‘people just like us’ to the ‘fundamentally other’ in an era of antiracism: The instrumental use of religion to exclude the other while avoiding stigma

In an era wherein racism is strongly condemned, everyday processes of categorization and othering confront individuals with contradictions that need to be managed. This article discusses how some of the categorization processes that parents of Flemish and Italian origin – living in Flanders (Belgium) – use are based upon negative stereotyping of the other and clash with one’s general self-image of a tolerant and nonracist person. Consequently, the possibility of being stigmatized as racist needs to be managed and avoided. Rather than refraining from excluding and negatively stereotyping the other, individuals tend to develop new strategies. The family context proved to be an interesting context to study this management of the representation of the self, and of the other. An analysis of 27 interviews with Belgian and Italian origin parents in Flanders clarifies how the shifting of labels from the ‘ethnic other’ (Turks and Moroccans) to the ‘religious other’ (Muslims) is used to legitimize exclusion. The discourses reveal an instrumental use of the (re)labeling of the (same) other which offers parents a solution to achieve the same end-results – the exclusion of the other from the family context – without fearing stigmatization as racist.

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.

Involving Roma parents: analysing the good practice of a primary school in Ghent

Recently, societal and academic attention toward the topic of Roma integration has been increasing. With this article we aim to make a contribution to the domain of educational research. We explore strategies that schools can adopt to improve the involvement of Roma parents. Using a theory-based stakeholder evaluation, we more specifically analyse how the organizational model of a primary school contributes to the establishment of trust between both parties. The results show that the theoretical principles guiding the daily school practices and interventions are aligned with the needs and specificity of the target audience, but are also broadly supported by the school staff. As such, the organizational structure of the school contributes to the support of the school staff for the global school vision and to the overall success of the approach. Nevertheless, some tension remains between team members working on the ‘care’ aspect and teachers working solely within the classroom.