Migrants as ascenders: reflections on the professional success of migrant apprentices

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this article is to explore the phenomenon of gifted migrants in vocational training and education. To date, migrant apprentices have been predominantly discussed from a deficit perspective. Special attention has been given to competence insufficiency and underperformance, as well as to migrant adolescents’ lack of professional and educational attainment. However, recent research points to a social group of migrants who are successful educational and professional achievers.

Design/methodology/approach

The article at hand discusses five theoretical models commonly applied to explain underachievement among migrant adolescents. It then examines these models’ explanatory power to predict migrants’ educational success. To conclude, the research parameters and theoretical framework of a Swiss longitudinal study designed on the basis of these findings is presented.

Findings

Educational research has increasingly focused on migrants, as well as on vocational education and training. However, what resulted from existing research is a predominantly unfavorable image of migrant apprentices that exclusively portrays them as so called “educational losers” of socio‐economically and culturally disadvantaged backgrounds. Based on theoretical explanatory models, a number of assumptions were extracted to show how educational success among migrants could be explained and whether resilience factors play a role in it. From the resilience perspective, professional success of migrant apprentices is likely to result from a stable, long‐term attachment figure or mentor who served as a role and identification model and was of significant importance in the adolescents’ workplace, for example as professional mentor. Furthermore, it is expected that educational facilities, in particular vocational training institutions, must have excelled in demanding high educational achievement, providing clear organizational and management structures, and high teaching quality as well as good instructor‐learner relationships.

Originality/value

As has been shown, educational research has increasingly focused on migrants, as well as on vocational education and training. However, what resulted from existing research is a predominantly unfavorable image of migrant apprentices that exclusively portrays them as so called “educational losers” of socio‐economically and culturally disadvantaged backgrounds. This implies that educational and professional success is not attainable for youths from disadvantaged families. On the other hand, successful migrant careers have been exemplarily portrayed; systematic research however is scarce and virtually non‐existent in German‐speaking academia. The lack of educational policy debate about successful migrants is probably a result of this research gap.

Citation

Magdaalena Stamm, M. (2013), "Migrants as ascenders: reflections on the professional success of migrant apprentices", Education + Training, Vol. 55 No. 2, pp. 112-127. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400911311304779