Against all Odds? Educational Success Vietnamese and Turkish Families in Germany

Ethnic and National Identity Development and School Adjustment: A Longitudinal Study With Turkish Immigrant-Origin Children

“…Yet, current knowledge on the emergence of these rather conflicting identities among Turkish immigrant youth relies entirely on cross-sectional data. Third, despite comparatively high academic aspirations and high levels of school motivation (Stanat, Segeritz, & Christensen, 2010), Turkish children have lower levels of performance in reading and math, attend lower school tracks, and leave school without a school-leaving qualification more often than native Germans and other immigrant groups (Nauck & Schnoor, 2015;Olczyk, Seuring, Will, & Zinn, 2016;Stanat, Rauch, & Segeritz, 2010). Accordingly, there is a special need to investigate positive resources that promote effective functioning in school among Turkish immigrant-origin children (e.g., their bicultural identity development).…”

Competing contexts of reception in refugee and immigrant incorporation: Vietnamese in West and East Germany

“…In interviews, former contract worker respondents discussed drawing on ethnic organisations and networks to navigate the German schooling system and to encourage their children to aim for Gymnasium, mirroring Zhou and Bankston's study of Vietnamese in New Orleans. These trends have led commenters to marvel at the 'Vietnamese wonder', 29 and at the second generationespecially in the former eastwho have seemingly succeeded 'against all odds' (Nauck and Schnoor 2015). 30 Though Vietnamese from separate migration streams encountered different contexts of reception, this did not appear to significantly hinder the educational outcomes of their children (El-Mafaalani and Kemper 2017, 225).…”

Invisible, successful, and divided: Vietnamese in Germany since the late 1970s

“…The migratory conditions under which Vietnamese came (as refugees versus contract workers) did not seem to impact on the educational outcomes of their children (El-Mafaalani and Kemper 2017, 225). These trends have led commenters to marvel at the "Vietnamese wonder", 28 and at the second generation who have seemingly succeeded "against all odds" (Nauck and Schnoor 2015). Yet, the data also stress a gap among Vietnamese: while 11 per cent, mostly the elderly, do not hold any school degree, 25 per cent of Vietnamese have already completed their Gymnasium studies.…”