Abstract
This article provides an insight into ethnic inequalities in education, from the point of view of successful students with an immigrant background. Since the 1990s, educational and migration studies have examined the unexpected pathways of disadvantaged students: researchers tested different hypotheses concerning drivers of success, highlighting social, family, and institutional mechanisms that have reproduced inequalities but also generated new opportunities. The educational success of students with a migrant background, however, is under-investigated in Italy, which represents a relevant context in which to explore the coexistence of persisting educational drawbacks and successful schooling for the children of migrants, born in Italy or abroad. Using data from a qualitative study carried out in northern Italy, the analysis is based on autobiographies written by an heterogenous group of 65 students of immigrant origin attending different types of upper secondary schools. The analysis reveals the presence of different meanings, attitudes, and narratives of success among these students, which vary according to the different cohorts of immigrant-origin students. Each group implements different successful strategies—standing out, working hard, waiting—inspired by individualistic and collective logics, which can imply specific risks for students and different types of impact on equal opportunities and social cohesion. These findings could open new avenues of research and intervention, helping policymakers and practitioners to think and act, given that success is indeed possible for immigrant-origin students.
Highlights
Immigrant-origin students who are academically successful are present in the educational systems of many countries, representing almost one-quarter of socioeconomically disadvantaged students with a migrant background (OECD 2018)
Using the classification illustrated above (Table 2), the empirical documentation was used in this paper to: explore the subjective meanings of educational success and failure, as attributed by the participants in the project; identify the narratives and attitudes of successful students, from their own perspective; highlight the successful strategies that have led those students to transform their disadvantages into educational advantages, facing adversities and overcoming disparities through different pathways, behaviors, and attitudes
The autobiographies of the Su.Per. students offer an original contribution to our understanding of how migration impacts on educational careers, from the point of view of the protagonists of this process
Summary
Immigrant-origin students who are academically successful are present in the educational systems of many countries, representing almost one-quarter of socioeconomically disadvantaged students with a migrant background (OECD 2018). Bernard Lahire was one of first scholars who analyzed academic success among disadvantaged youngsters (Lahire 1995) He started from the empirical observation that students from similar deprived backgrounds can undertake three distinct educational trajectories—failure, dropout, or success—that need to be described in depth and understood. Within Lahire’s extensive body of work (Lahire 2017), Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction has found interesting developments: studying the unlikely success of working-class students, Lahire analyzed the societal mechanisms that reproduce social inequalities in education, and the dynamics that generate social change and new opportunities for disadvantaged students
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
