Characterizing Unaccompanied Foreign Minors: Educational Level and Length of Stay as Individual Difference Factors That Impact Academic Self-Efficacy

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to analyze individual differences in academic self-efficacy within a population of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors (UFM) from the European cities of Ceuta and Melilla (Spain). Variables describing educational level and length of stay were considered in a sample of 377 individuals being cared for in different youth centers. Of these, 63.4% belonged to the group who had stayed at the center for less than 9 months and 36.6% reported a length of stay of more than 9 months. The age of participants ranged between 8 and 17 years old (M = 14.87 years). Once the quality parameters of the instrument (academic self-efficacy) were elaborated, reliability and validity was confirmed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) methodology. Data collection was then initiated. The results overall indicate that 87.6% of those who completed the questionnaire reported a higher level of self-efficacy with regards to working with any classmate, whilst at the same time seeing themselves as capable of achieving good marks. ANOVA results indicated significant differences with respect to educational level and length of stay. In this regard, students who had received professional training and had been at the Center for more than 9 months, were the ones who developed greater academic self-efficacy for spending more time working when tasks were judged to be difficult. The results obtained demonstrate that any intervention will be positive as long as it promotes different institutions to develop strategies that cater to a length of stay of more than 9 months and target education, academic self-efficacy, socialization and strengthening the future workforce. Such interventions can be directed through new European, Spanish or local level policies. It is clear that institutions still have a lot of work left to do.

“My Father Put Me in a Patera So I Could Study”: Key Aspects of Socio-Educational Support for Minors Who Migrate Alone

“…As mentioned above, the education of minors who migrate alone is framed within an inclusive model, though it is not without difficulties both inside and outside the classroom [40]. In this sphere of intervention, at the regulatory level, it is worth mentioning, firstly, the Law of 9/1999 of November 18, 1999, on Solidarity in Education, whose articles 17 and 18 state, respectively, that educational centers are to implement projects that favor respect for cultural identity, promote cooperation and the participation of migrant children in the social environment, and defend interculturality against rejection or discrimination.…”