School and social integration of adolescents residing in Athens

• Κύριος συγγραφέας: Rerak, Monika Barbara
• Άλλοι συγγραφείς: Σταμέλος, Γεώργιος
• Μορφή: Thesis
• Γλώσσα: English
• Έκδοση: 2011
• Θέματα: Social integration; School integration; Adolescence; Immigrants; Bridging and bonding social capital; Social capital; Polish schools at the Polish Embassy in Athens; Κοινωνική ένταξη; Ένταξη στο σχολείο; Εφηβεία; Μετανάστες; Γεφύρωση και σύνδεση κοινωνικού κεφαλαίου; Κοινωνικό κεφάλαιο; Πολωνικά σχολεία στην πολωνική πρεσβεία στην Αθήνα; 379.263

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.