School and Social Integration of Adolescents Residing in Athens
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ΠΑΝΔΠΙΣΗΜΙΟ ΠΑΣΡΧΝ ΠΑΙΓΑΓΧΓΙΚΟ ΣΜΗΜΑ ΓΗΜΟΣΙΚΗ ΔΚΠΑΙΓΔΤΗ ΜΔΣΑΠΣΤΥΙΑΚΟ ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ: Γηα Βίνπ Δθπαίδεπζε: Πνιηηηθέο, Δπηκόξθσζε Καη Σερλνινγίεο Πιεξνθνξίαο Δπηθνηλσληώλ ΓΙΠΛΧΜΑΣΙΚΗ ΔΡΓΑΙΑ: School and Social Integration of Adolescents residing in Athens ΜΔΣΑΠΣΤΥΙΑΚΗ ΦΟΙΣΗΣΡΙΑ: Monika Barbara Rerak Δπηβιέπσλ θαζεγεηήο: Σταμέλος Γεώργιος Δμεηαζηηθή Δπηηξνπή: I.A. πηλζνπξάθε Ι. Κακαξηαλόο ΠΑΣΡΑ, 2010 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis was made possible by the support and assistance of a number of people whom I would like to personally thank. Without all of them I would definitely not have finished this project. First of all, I want to express gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. George Stamelos, whose assistance, patience and understanding were very important to me during the entire two years of Master Studies, and especially while I was working on the following thesis. I am grateful to Dr. Stamelos for taking time out from his busy schedule to help me whenever needed. I would like also to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Julia-Athena Spinthourakis and Dr. Ιoanni Kamarianos, for the assistance they provided at all levels of the research project. A very special thanks goes out to the staff of the Group of Polish schools at Polish Embassy in Athens: headmaster – Mrs. Marzanna Geisler, assistant headmaster – Mrs. Beata Panagiotopoulou and secretary Grażyna Barska as well as headmasters of various Greek high schools in Athens for their help and understanding, as well as for all information they provided me with. Finally, I would also like to thank my family for the support, encouragement and often editing assistance they provided me through my entire studies. 2 ABSTRACT The concept of social integration has gained prominence in the social and policy debates all over the Europe. Children of immigrants, constituting a significant percentage of modern population of European Union, go through some demanding changes in their processes of social and school integration. As the number of immigrants in Greece is growing, it is of high importance to identify, examine, and understand problems that young immigrants living in this country might have. Our research investigates social and school integration of adolescents‟ from Polish immigration families residing in Athens, Greece. By this project we wish to build and advance beyond the current research and contribute to existing knowledge in the field of social integration. The study is based on a qualitative research method relying on semi-structured, in–depth interviews with 12 young respondents from Greek and Polish high schools in Athens. The results indicate that the level of social integration of adolescent Poles is various and depends on the school that young people attend extracurricular activities they participate in, social networks within Greek population, parents‟ socioeconomic status and Greek language competency. In case of respondents from the Group of Polish schools at Polish Embassy in Athens observed level of integration was lower, than in the group of pupils from Greek schools. KEY WORDS: social integration, school integration, adolescence, immigrants, social capital, bridging and bonding social capital, the Group of Polish schools at the Polish Embassy in Athens. 3 ΠΔΡΙΛΗΦΗ Η έλλνηα ηεο θνηλσληθήο έληαμεο έρεη θεξδίζεη εμέρνπζα ζέζε ζηηο θνηλσληθέο θαη πνιηηηθέο αληηπαξαζέζεηο ζε όιε ηελ Δπξώπε. Σα παηδηά ησλ κεηαλαζηώλ, πνπ απνηεινύλ έλα ζεκαληηθό πνζνζηό ηνπ ζύγρξνλνπ πιεζπζκνύ ηεο Δπξσπατθήο Έλσζεο, πθίζηαληαη ζε νξηζκέλεο απαηηεηηθέο αιιαγέο θαηά ηελ θνηλσληθή θαη ζρνιηθή ηνπο έληαμε. Καζώο ν αξηζκόο ησλ κεηαλαζηώλ ζηελ Διιάδα απμάλεηαη, είλαη πςειήο ζεκαζίαο ν εληνπηζκόο, ε εμέηαζε, θαη ε θαηαλόεζε ησλ πξνβιεκάησλ πνπ αληηκεησπίδνπλ νη λένη κεηαλάζηεο πνπ δνπλ ζηε ρώξα απηή. Η έξεπλά καο δηεξεπλά ηελ θνηλσληθή θαη ζρνιηθή έληαμε ησλ εθήβσλ πνπ πξνέξρνληαη από πνισληθέο νηθνγέλεηεο κεηαλαζηώλ, νη νπνίεο θαηνηθνύλ ζηελ πξσηεύνπζα ηεο Διιάδαο, Αζήλα. ηελ παξνύζα κειέηε πξνζπαζνύκε λα νηθνδνκήζνπκε θαη λα πξνσζήζνπκε ηελ έξεπλα θαη λα ζπκβάινπκε ζηελ ππάξρνπζα γλώζε, ζηνλ ηνκέα ηεο θνηλσληθήο έληαμεο. Η κειέηε βαζίδεηαη ζε κηα πνηνηηθή κέζνδν έξεπλαο ε νπνία ζηεξίδεηαη ζε εκη-δνκεκέλεο, ιεπηνκεξείο ζπλεληεύμεηο 12 λέσλ εξσηεζέλησλ από ειιεληθά θαη πνισληθά γπκλάζηα ζηελ Αζήλα. Σα απνηειέζκαηα δείρλνπλ όηη ν βαζκόο ηεο θνηλσληθήο έληαμεο ησλ εθήβσλ Πνισλώλ δηαθέξεη από άηνκν ζε άηνκν θαη εμαξηάηαη από: ην ζρνιείν, ην νπνίν νη λένη ζπκκεηέρνπλ, ηηο εμσζρνιηθέο δξαζηεξηόηεηεο ζηηο νπνίεο ζπκκεηέρνπλ, ηα θνηλσληθά δίθηπα ζηνλ ειιεληθό πιεζπζκό, ηελ θνηλσληθo-νηθνλνκηθή θαηάζηαζε ησλ γνλέσλ ηνπο θαη ηελ επρέξεηα ηνπο ζηελ ρξήζε ηεο ειιεληθήο γιώζζαο. ηελ πεξίπησζε ησλ εξσηεζέλησλ από ην ζπγθξόηεκα ησλ πνισληθώλ ζρνιείσλ ζηελ πνισληθή πξεζβεία ζηελ Αζήλα, παξαηεξήζεθε όηη ην επίπεδν ηεο έληαμεο ηνπο ήηαλ ρακειόηεξν, ζπγθξηηηθά κε ηελ νκάδα ησλ καζεηώλ πνπ πξνέξρνληαλ από ειιεληθά ζρνιεία. ΛΔΞΔΙ ΚΛΔΙΓΙΑ: κοινωνική ένηαξη, ένηαξη ζηο ζσολείο, εθηβεία, μεηανάζηερ, κοινωνικό κεθάλαιο, γεθςπώνονηαρ κοινωνικό κεθάλαιο και ζςνδέονηαρ κοινωνικό κεθάλαιο, ηο ζςγκπόηημα ηων πολωνικών ζσολείων ζηην πολωνική ππεζβεία ζηην Αθήνα. 4 TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………...………. 3 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………..………. 7 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK……………………….….…….…... 12 1.1 INTEGRATION ………………………………………………………..…... 12 1.1.1 Social integration: definitions………………………………………...….. 13 1.1.2 Literature review on social integration…………………………………... 16 1.1.3 The concept of school integration ……………………………………..… 28 1.2 PHENOMENON OF SOCIAL CAPITAL…………………...…... 35 2. ADOLESCENCE AS TRANSITIONAL STAGE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT........................................................................................ 43 3. POLISH MIGRATIONS........................................................................... 54 3.1 Brief history of Polish emigration……………………………………….…. 55 3.2 Polish immigration in Greece………………………………………….…….62 3.3 Setting the context: schools in Athens attended by Polish immigrant children ……………………………………………………………………...70 METHODOLOGY…………...………………….………………….………..78 1. Objectives of the study...................................................................................... 78 2. Research question.............................................................................................. 79 3. Hypotheses…………………………………………………………………… 80 4. Sample............................................................................................................... 80 5 5. Method.............................................................................................................. 81 6. Technique.......................................................................................................... 82 7. Procedure……………………………………………………………………... 85 8. Limitations of the study and avenues for future research...………………….. 86 9. Analysis …………………………………………………………………...…. 88 RESULTS………………………………..………………………………….… 90 1. Findings ............................................................................................................ 90 2. Discussion....................................................................................................... 109 3. Implications .................................................................................................... 125 4. Conclusions..................................................................................................... 128 REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 132 ANNEX.............................................................................................................. 155 6 INTRODUCTION Contemporary migrations are becoming a more common process for people who want to improve their material living conditions and to provide better economic security for themselves and their families. During the first half of the 20th century over 100 million people migrated, voluntarily or forcibly, from one country to another (Aronowitz, 1984). In the 1980‟s worldwide the refugee total was close to 16 million people (De Sherbinin & Weeg, 1980), and it was estimated that there were more migrants on earth then, both proportionally and in aggregate, than at any time in history, until now. Nowadays, the numbers of migrants has grown even more. The total number of international migrants has increased over the last 10 years from an estimated 150 million in 2000 (IOM, 2000) to 214 million people today (IOM, 2010). In other words, one out of every 33 persons in the world today is a migrant. All the migrants would constitute the fifth most populous country in the world (UN, 2009). Geopolitical events have influenced the cultural and ethnic composition of many societies forcing development of new values and skills which have in turn affected the way in which children are socialized and learn new skills (Spinthourakis & Katsillis, 2004: 11). The presence is also shaped by the processes of globalization. The process of social, political and economic globalization, whose spread we are now witnessing, is related to the mobility of the population all over the world in every possible direction. People leave their countries for economic, political, demographic, cultural and social reasons, such as wars, political and religious discrimination, and unemployment. They seek a better life; desire to ensure a better future for their children. This trend is especially evident in the case of the Poles. Poland is a country with a rich emigration tradition: migration processes were always closely