Educational aspirations of underprivileged female migrants. An ethnographic case study of a transnational network of care workers between Brazil and Germany

Transnational migration and educational opportunities: A case study of migration from Brazil to Germany

“…Cases such as Luciana's have gained attention in migration studies as part of the international feminization of migration due to the 'care crisis' (Fraser, 2016) that affects the richest countries of the world, including Germany (Fürstenau, 2018). But, at the same time, Luciana's case offers particularities that are seldom focused on by migration research: she migrated not to find better work, but to study at a university in Germany.…”

“…First findings demonstrate how educational opportunities influence the migration decisions of young people and families. This refers not only to socially privileged groups who possess the resources to access a global education market, but also to underprivileged youths such as Luciana, for whom migration constitutes a strategy of educational upward mobility (Carnicer, 2018;Fürstenau, 2018). The emergence of such aspirations is remarkable in social settings such as Luciana's favela, where comparable experiences are absent and appropriate resources such as foreign language skills, internationally recognized school certificates and even money are lacking.…”

Collecting migrants' Facebook posts: Accounting for ethical measures in a text-as-data approach

“…Finally, Brazilian migrants' fondness for social media groups is not new, as it has been reported already over a decade ago (Oosterbaan, 2010 ; Schrooten, 2012 ), nevertheless its uses for educational projects have not been studied. The paid VET programmes in Germany have the potential to attract migrants who are excluded from tertiary education in their countries of origin, as is the case of some Brazilians (Carnicer, 2019 ; Fürstenau, 2019 )—hence the choice to focus our research on Germany as a country of destination. As to the decision to focus on Brazilians, the best-described case of migrants from low-income backgrounds pursuing tertiary education in a European country seems to be that of Brazilians.…”

“…Transnational education (TNE) is more often approached in research about higher education; nevertheless, migrants from families with low income and low educational attainment are also actors in TNE. Fürstenau ( 2019 ) and Carnicer ( 2019 ) have described how Brazilian women from such backgrounds migrate to Germany first as Au Pairs, then complete VET (which is usually remunerated in Germany), and thereby secure both employment and stable residence status.…”

Language and education in transnational school careers: An introduction

“…The interplay between language and education for individuals whose biographies are marked by changes across national borders and educational systems thus opens up new questions concerning the transnational aspects that can be found in language-related educational processes: How are these taken up, perpetuated or transformed by actors with transnational school careers (Fürstenau, 2019)? How do individuals and families deal with the challenges that arise due to transnational migration processes?…”