89
Escaping Routes: Educational, Cultural and Economic Issues in Refugee Populations’ Integration in the Host Countries

Wednesday, 18 July 2018: 10:30-12:20
Location: 801B (MTCC SOUTH BUILDING)
RC04 Sociology of Education (host committee)

Language: English

The recent massive migration/refugee flows towards Europe from the eastern Mediterranean region, matched with economic crisis, disinvestment, rising unemployment and job insecurity, reductions in welfare state provisions etc., created a number of arbitrary –in both legal and theoretical terms—divisions: those divisions revolve around the dichotomy between economic immigrants” and “refugees”. In the first case, immigration is considered as “undesirable”, whereas in the second as something “desirable”, or at least “tolerated”. However, “refugees” are not a homogenous group, which is based only on their place of birth, since their educational and occupational “pathways” are shaped by the interplay between a) the structural properties (e.g. sectoral structure of the economy) of their country of origin, as well as of their host country, b) the economic, cultural and social “capital” of their family, and c) numerous other personal characteristics (gender, IQ level etc.).

This session invited papers, both theoretical and empirical, which deal with the examination of the above issues, with special focus on:

  1. the educational and training environments within which refugees and their offspring try to get the necessary credentials for social integration.
  2. the differentiation between the educational trajectories of refugees, especially the first-generation ones, according to their cultural, social and economic “capital”.
  3. the interplay between cultural, social and economic “capital” in their overall welfare and sense of well-being.
  4. the use of their educational credentials for integration into the host-country’s labour market.

The adoption of a comparative perspective in the above issues would be highly appreciated.

Session Organizer:
Dionysios GOUVIAS, University of the Aegean, Greece
Oral Presentations
Once Learnt Never Forgotten - Recognition of Qualifications Acquired Abroad: A Key to Labour Market Integration in Germany
Robert KOCH, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Germany; Nadja SCHMITZ, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Germany
Labor Market Integration of Refugees: Determinants of Labor Market Entry Among Syrian, Afghan, Iranian and Iraqi Refugees in Austria
Christina LIEBHART, University of Vienna, Austria; Raimund HAINDORFER, University of Vienna, Austria; Roland VERWIEBE, University of Vienna, Austria
Syrian Refugee Youth Seeking Hope: Educational Aspirations and Integration of Refugee Youth in Belgium
Tuba BIRCAN, University of Leuven, Belgium; Mohammad SALMAN, Free University of Brussels, Belgium
The ‘Welcome Student-Refugees Program’: An Analysis of the Interviews
Mohammad SALMAN, Free University of Brussels, Belgium
Seamless Inclusion. a Study of Best Practices from Integration Educations in Canada and Finland
Sanna SAKSELA-BERGHOLM, Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Finland; Tobias POTZSCH, Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Finland
Migration and Inequality: Object Constructions in the Field of Social Science
Jan SKROBANEK, University of Bergen, Norway; Solvejg JOBST, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway