Fixed Narratives and Entangled Categorizations: Educational Problematizations in Times of Politicized and Stratified Migration

Abstract

Western European migration and citizenship regimes have undergone profound transformations over the past decades. The massive politicization and stratification of migration are key features of these dynamics. Focusing on the case of Germany, this article investigates how these developments affect logics of educational practice. It is argued that teachers, faced with increasingly complex and uncertain situations, systematically draw on categories that combine political and educational logics. These “entangled categories” do hardly allow to unravel the complex configurations currently at stake at the intersection of migration and education. A secondary analysis of TIMSS-2015 data is performed to substantiate the article’s core hypothesis: these forms of categorization have crystallized into patterns of educational problematization that couple perceptions of educational challenges, professional self-images, and didactic approaches. These fixed narratives disproportionally affect migrant children from underprivileged social backgrounds. They hence have important implications both for our understanding of educational inequalities in times of politicized and stratified migration and for furthering professional reflexivity.

“I don´t put people into boxes, but…” A free-listing exercise exploring social categorisation of asylum seekers by professionals in two German reception centres

“…The same goes for social classifications of refugees that permeate their society-and thus also themselves: one can reflect on them or not-in which case they might be no less effective-we can approve or disapprove of our own or others´classifications. In this politicised field of action [178] there might be no neutral position and therefore positioning. So, if politics will anyways be relevant, should organisations take a clear stand and formulate an explicit political mission instead of believing or pretending to only follow professional rationales?…”

Migration background – Statistical classification and the problem of implicitly ethnicising categorisation in educational contexts

“…However, it is also consequential. Over time, fixed patterns of educational problematisation have emerged around this category, narratives that couple perceptions of educational challenges, professional self-images and didactic approaches (Horvath, 2018). These fixed narratives have important consequences.…”

“…This study included, among others, qualitative interviews with teachers and a quantitative survey among students. It is used in this article to illustrate how educational narratives can become fixed around an implicitly ethnicising category (Horvath, 2018), leading to important blind spots and biased forms of perceiving and problematising educational inequalities.…”

Migration, Boundaries and Differentiated Citizenship: Contested Frameworks for Inclusion and Exclusion

“…Kenneth Horvath (2018) addresses how educational inequality may be reproduced in conjunction with negative representations of migrants. Data concerning teachers' perceptions of student backgrounds and educational problems in the German context reveal that teachers tend to hold lower educational expectations and are more likely to associate educational problems with students with foreign-born parents and those in relatively disadvantaged positions.…”