When Arriving Is Not Enough—Constraints in Access to Education and Employment Opportunities for Migrant Youth

Judith Jacovkis, Alejandro Montes and Xavier Rambla
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Judith Jacovkis: Departament de Didàctica i Organització Educativa, Universitat de Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
Alejandro Montes: Departamento de Sociología Aplicada, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Xavier Rambla: Departament de Sociologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain

Societies, 2022, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Due to an array of individual, institutional and structural factors, several constraints hinder the access of migrant youth to education, training and employment in Catalonia. In this article, we explore the conditions in which young migrants access the education and training system in Catalonia (Spain). Drawing on the theory of opportunity structures, we highlight three constraints that narrow their education and training opportunities. Our approach runs away from individualistic explanations of success or failure. The research draws on 5 focus groups and 10 in-depth interviews with young migrants who were participating in a training scheme in 2019 and 2020. Our results point out three types of conditioning factors that constrain opportunities and sometimes become unsurmountable barriers. Firstly, their migrant status narrows their opportunities for education, training and employment. Secondly, current administrative procedures eventually disrupt the ways in which certain young newcomers follow the mainstream education and training pathways. Finally, certain circumstances have inflicted socio-emotional wounds on young newcomers, not only because they have left their country and suffered from socio-economic deprivation, but also because they have been compelled to suddenly adjust their expectations.

Keywords: opportunity structures; young newcomers; access to education; educational trajectories; education inequalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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