Conference Program

This contribution examines how educational policies and guidelines shape the conditions under which Heritage Language Education (HLE) can either challenge or reproduce inequalities affecting students with family trajectories of migration. Drawing on preliminary findings from the international project "VOICES of Heritage Languages – Researching the Interplay of Heritage Language Education and Social Cohesion", this talk focuses on how HLE is framed within national and sub‑national policy discourses in three post‑migrant (Foroutan 2019) and post‑multilingual (Li 2018) contexts: South Tyrol (Italy) and the Swiss cantons of Bern and Lucerne. The overarching aim is to assess how far current policy frameworks enable - or limit - the development of more equitable and inclusive educational environments where all linguistic resources are actively sustained to support learning and positive identity development.

Responding to recent calls for more comparative analyses of HLE policy (Wang & Hatoss 2024; Messina‑Dahlberg & Gross 2024), the study employs a qualitative thematic analysis of approx. 50 national and sub-national policy documents, guidelines and educational frameworks. Through this methodological approach, the research team sought to identify how institutional discourses across the two states and the three regions construct the role, purpose and legitimacy of HLE, and whether and how these constructions interact with broader goals of social cohesion and educational equity.

Preliminary findings reveal marked cross‑contextual differences and common patterns in the institutionalisation and legitimisation of HLE. In the Italian context, and particularly in South Tyrol, policy discourses emphasize the valorisation of linguistic diversity, yet such recognition remains largely symbolic, with no clear operational guidelines as to how to support HL teaching and learning in the mainstream educational system. Similar tensions, though manifested differently, also emerge in the Swiss contexts. Such ambivalent position towards HLE has the effect of further prioritising the learning of the institutionalised language(s) of schooling, thus reinforcing existing hierarchies between dominant and non-dominant languages and failing to offer concrete institutional measures capable of reducing inequalities.

By comparing three regions with distinct governance traditions, this talk contributes to critically reflect how macro‑level policy discourses may or may not shape the possibilities for HLE to function as a tool for social cohesion, with real-life implications for students’ access to equitable educational opportunities.

Despite Italy’s long-standing commitment to intercultural education, disparities between native and immigrant-background students persist across academic achievement, tracking, and school continuity (Aktaş et al. 2022; Ferri et al. 2023). Scholarship has also emphasized the fragmented and normatively ambiguous character of the intercultural policy framework (Santagati & Bertozzi 2023; Landini 2025). Rather than focusing on policy design, this paper turns to the level of practice, examining how integration is interpreted and operationalized within schools. The analysis draws on qualitative research conducted in four lower secondary schools on the periphery of Milan and is based on 71 in-depth interviews with administrative and teaching staff, students of diverse backgrounds (including immigrant origin), and their parents.

Across the schools, a recurring repertoire of measures emerges: Italian L2 courses, cultural mediation, collaboration with external actors, pedagogical adaptation, and initiatives aimed at fostering parental involvement. These interventions signal institutional recognition of linguistic and cultural diversity and constitute a meaningful baseline of commitment. However, their configuration, intensity, and integration into ordinary pedagogical routines vary significantly.

The paper argues that integration frequently remains confined to formally established measures and to a general institutional openness to provide support upon request. Rather than reshaping the underlying logics of schooling, the research findings suggest that support often operates as an additive layer alongside mainstream pedagogical routines. Yet these routines are not neutral: they are structured in ways that implicitly privilege students whose linguistic and cultural dispositions align with dominant expectations.

Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, the empirical analysis shows how taken-for-granted institutional norms may reproduce inequality without explicit discriminatory intent (Bourdieu & Passeron 1990). Within this configuration, integration emerges as heavily dependent on individual teachers’ reflexivity and relational commitment. However, these dimensions remain unevenly institutionalized and weakly supported organizationally. Limited reflexivity can reframe structural disadvantages as individual shortcomings, subtly shifting responsibility onto students and families for limited academic performance or participation.

The paper does not dismiss the mitigating role of existing support measures; instead, it highlights a persistent tension between formal institutional commitment to integration and organizational routines that continue to structure unequal educational trajectories. Promoting integration of immigrant origin students therefore requires not only expanding support measures, but also rethinking the underlying logics that shape everyday school practices.

The paper departs from the observation that the dominant policy discourse frames education according to its quantifiable and measurable outcomes (Harris & Clayton, 2019; Ure, 2019). For learners, educational achievements have increasingly been recognised and valued based on their practical application on the labour market, which complicates the educational trajectories of migrant-background youth. Young people from migrant background often come from regions which are considered as “underdeveloped” or regressive, meaning that the recognition of their educational achievements has to be re-adjusted to the norms and expectations in the destination countries (Sandermann et al., 2017; Husen & Sandermann, 2021). In addition, through various regulatory mechanisms, migrant youth face enormous difficulties in developing a standardized and/or linear educational trajectory (Griffiths, 2014; Leutloff-Grandits, 2021) and a clear vision of their future (Pine, 2014).

We argue that educational trajectories of migrant-background youth must be contextualized within a wider framework and interplay of actors, factors, and spaces. In the local/regional settings, the role of policymakers and practitioners is as indispensable as the impact of structural and institutional factors and the effect that spaces have on educational quality. Against this background, the paper's main research question is: What is the role of local actors, factors, and spaces in affecting educational trajectories of youth from migrant background and how does their various combination intertwine with diverse educational trajectories of young migrants?

The paper is based on research findings of the EU-funded research project Constructing Learning Outcomes in Europe: A multi-level analysis of (under)achievement in the life course (CLEAR) (Agreement No. 101061155) and unfolds in three steps: first, we provide an overview of the conceptual underpinnings and scholarly debates on educational trajectories of young people from migrant background; second, we analyse the role of local actors, factors, and spaces in shaping educational trajectories by contrasting the experiences of young people from migrant background in one declining and one thriving German region; third, we juxtapose and contrast the findings to elaborate on the various combination of actors, factors, and spaces and their interplay with diverse experiences of learners from migrant-background.

Our methodological design is informed by a mixed-method design that includes narrative biographical interviews with young people (18–29 years) from vulnerable positions (N=21), semi-structured interviews with local policy actors in education and labour market (N=13), as well as by a quantitative analysis of educational, socio-economic, and employment indicators (N=51) of the regions studied that provide a comprehensive account of the current developments, patterns, and sub-national trajectories. The qualitative data have been collected in the regions of Hamburg-Mitte and Halle(Saale) in Germany.

Our findings evidence that young people from migrant background reflect on their relation to learning outcomes and educational performances through the lenses of their fragmented educational pathways. Furthermore, fragmented life courses make it much harder to imagine and pursue future plans. While wealthier regions succeed in dynamizing young people to plan their life courses more actively, possibly due to the more structured labour market and more precisely elaborated working trajectories, the more peripheral regions offer limited job opportunities.

Educational transitions represent a crucial moment in the reproduction of social inequalities (Tarabini, 2018), particularly for young people with a migrant background. Across contexts, research (Stevens & Dworkin, 2019) consistently shows that students of migrant origin are disproportionately channelled into less prestigious educational pathways, even when they hold high educational aspirations. While quantitative studies (Contini & Azzolini, 2016; Kilpi-Jakonen, 2011) have documented these structural patterns, they often provide limited insight into how young people themselves interpret, negotiate and experience these transitions. This paper addresses this gap by examining how children of migrants navigate the transition to post-compulsory education within a context marked by school and urban segregation.

The paper draws on qualitative longitudinal research conducted with seventeen students of Moroccan and Pakistani origin in Barcelona. Over the course of one year, participants were followed during their transition from compulsory secondary education to post-compulsory pathways through a combination of semi-structured interviews and visual methods. This approach enables an in-depth exploration of how students articulate their educational choices through their identities and aspirations, and how these evolve throughout the transition process. The study situates these subjective processes within broader structural and institutional contexts, including school composition, teacher expectations, educational guidance and the spatial distribution of educational opportunities.

The analysis identifies two distinct patterns of transition. The first, described as transitions by ambition, occurs when students select demanding academic pathways oriented towards prestigious long-term professional goals, such as medicine or engineering. These trajectories are often shaped by what the literature describes as migrant optimism, whereby educational success becomes part of a broader family project of social mobility. However, these ambitious transitions are frequently destabilised during the first months of post-compulsory education through academic difficulties, shifting school identities and processes of “cooling out” mediated by peer networks and local opportunity structures.

The second pattern, referred to as transitions by alignment, is characterised by choices based on perceived alignment between students’ abilities, interests and available educational pathways. In these cases, decisions are strongly influenced by naturalised understandings of ability and by institutional classifications of knowledge that differentiate between academic and vocational pathways. These transitions are typically accompanied by more limited or vague aspirations and are shaped by the constraints of class position and segregated educational environments.

By focusing on the subjective dimensions of transitions, this paper highlights the heterogeneity of experiences among children of migrants and challenges essentialist explanations that attribute educational outcomes primarily to cultural background. Instead, the findings demonstrate how educational inequalities emerge from the interaction between structural conditions, institutional practices and young people’s own processes of identity and aspirational negotiation. In doing so, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on the role of educational systems in either reproducing or challenging inequalities affecting migrant-background youth.

In increasingly diverse societies, ensuring equitable access to higher education has become a key democratic responsibility of education systems (UNESCO, 2018). Despite the formal recognition of educational rights, students with a migratory background continue to experience significant inequalities in educational trajectories. In Italy, these students are disproportionately enrolled in vocational and technical tracks and are less likely to transition to university compared to their native peers (Bertozzi, 2018; Carlana et al., 2022; Mantovani et al., 2018; Volante et al., 2019). While existing research has extensively documented structural barriers, comparatively fewer studies have explored how students with a migratory background themselves interpret educational opportunities and constraints, particularly in relation to school guidance processes and the transition to higher education. Understanding how young people perceive and navigate these institutional contexts is crucial for examining how everyday school practices may contribute to either reproducing or challenging educational inequalities.

This paper presents preliminary findings from a qualitative study conducted within the broader research project FINE – Fighting INequalities in Education. Promoting Access to Universities for Students with Migratory Backgrounds (https://fineproject.it/), funded by Fondazione Cariplo. The project investigates the cultural, socio-economic, and institutional factors shaping educational aspirations and decision-making processes among students with a migratory background, with particular attention to how school practices and guidance processes influence access to higher education.

The study adopts a participatory qualitative research design grounded in a Student Voice approach (Cook-Sather, 2020; Welty & Lundy, 2013), which positions students as key informants in understanding educational pathways and decision-making processes. The research, currently ongoing, is being conducted in six upper secondary schools in the Lombardy region, purposefully selected for their significant presence of students with a migratory background and to represent the main educational tracks of the Italian system (academic, technical, and vocational). Data collection combines initial focus groups with teachers responsible for career guidance and 29 focus groups with 278 fourth-year students—both with and without a migratory background—aimed at exploring their perceptions of post-secondary opportunities, educational aspirations, and perceived barriers to university access. In addition, a selected group of students with a migratory background (N = 30) document their reflections and evolving expectations through a four-month digital diary, providing a longitudinal perspective on how aspirations and decision-making processes develop over time.

By foregrounding the experiences and perspectives of students themselves, this research sheds light on how school practices, cultural norms, and socio-economic conditions interact in shaping educational choices among migrant-background youth. Preliminary insights highlight the complexity of students’ aspirations and the multiple factors that influence their perceived access to higher education. The findings also point to the ambivalent role of school guidance and institutional practices, which can simultaneously reproduce existing inequalities or open spaces for more equitable educational pathways.

By contributing empirical evidence grounded in students’ lived experiences, this paper aims to inform ongoing debates on educational stratification and access to higher education. It also reflects on the potential of Student Voice methodologies to challenge deficit-oriented perspectives and to support more inclusive and equitable educational practices.