Educational Transitions in War and Refugee Contexts: Youth Biographies in Afghanistan and Austria

Abstract

This article addresses educational transitions under conditions of multiple insecurities. By analyzing empirical data of two research projects with youths in Afghanistan and refugee students in Austria, we show how young peoplemake sense of the social and educational inequalities they encounter on their educational pathways within different national, socio‐political, and institutional contexts. We present in‐depth analyses of two cases to elaborate how young people in different parts of the world conceive of their futures when basic security needs are not met, and how they make sense of the social and educational inequalities they face during their transition processes. After living through repeatedly fractured perspectives, young people have to make sense of their biographical experiences and continuously (re)design their plans while facing uncertain futures. In the Afghan Youth Project, we reconstructed a collective—and morally charged—biographical orientation of future plans. This orientation can also be understood as a critical response to persistent fragility and inequality and suggests an imagined generational hold and sense of belonging. In the Austrian project Translating Wor(l)ds, we reconstructed continuing experiences of educational exclusion, marginalization, and devaluation in different migration societies throughout refugee routes. Educational transitions, which can be challenging for all young people, take on special relevance under these conditions. Combining biographical and socio‐psychological research perspectives allows us to reconstruct educational processes as cumulative, non‐linear processes and to reveal the ambiguities, contradictions, and ruptures woven into them, as well as the subjects’ constructions of sense and agency.

Transforming language brokering policies at school: Learning from students with transnational biographies

“…Language brokering then takes place in critical and sensitive decision-making processes in bureaucratic settings and in interactions with institutions. "Transition classes" are biographical time-spaces of structural uncertainty (Draxl and Thoma, 2022), and since educational transitions are highly uncertain if the residence status is not secured (Thoma and Langer, 2022), situations in which students have to interpret add further facets of uncertainty and precarity. As Haadiah's example shows, she has already thought about further migration and what it would mean for learning other languages.…”

“…As has been noted, the somewhat politically naïve institutionalization of “transition classes” for refugee students failed to recognize the heterogeneity of educational pathways and experiences as well as language repertoires of the students, which led to a number of social and pedagogical challenges (Dausien et al, 2020). The 16 students we were working with throughout our project differed not only in their backgrounds but also in their legal status in Austria (some of them were still seeking asylum, while others had been granted asylum), a difference which shaped both their position in society and their plans for educational transitions (see Thoma and Langer, 2022) and the future in general. Our focus was on young people’s experiences in the process of arriving in the Austrian school system and with multilingualism and translation.…”

Negotiations of language(s) and inequalities in transnational family biographies

“…In the context of transnational educational and migration pathways as transnational spaces (Gogolin and Pries, 2004; Hornberg, 2014), therefore, in addition to schools to which children and young people have (in part) access in the course of the asylum procedure as part of compulsory education, school-based educational institutions also become particularly relevant for adults in order to gain access to the labour market (Del Percio et al, 2017). Within these institutions, mechanisms of institutional discrimination are effective in the migration society, and these mechanisms disadvantage people with a migration history in different ways (Gomolla, 2021; Thoma and Langer, 2022; Yildiz and Ohnmacht, 2022). Or, as Del Percio et al (2017: 69) put it with regard to the relation between language and political economy: “[I]f language is a powerful tool for integration, it remains instrumental in excluding people”.…”

“…https://www.pluriling-gr.ch/deutsch/artikel/d-schneider-artikel-vergleiche/ [15.05.2022] 7. This question is asked byThoma and Langer (2022) in their analysis of transnational educational pathways of youth, but it adequately applies for my research on transnational families. 8.…”

Challenges in School‐To‐Work Transition in Germany and Austria: Perspectives on Individual, Institutional, and Structural Inequalities

“…Therefore, several contributions either deal with facets of stability or change in the transition, such as Mühlböck et al's (2022) work on occupational aspirations, Fischer-Browne's (2022) article on the compromise formation between occupational aspirations and training occupation, or Valls et al's (2022) research on the alignment of occupational and educational aspirations. Furthermore, some articles investigate individual developmental processes in the transition, such as Gellermann and Fuchs' (2022) work on autonomy, Fasching and Felbermayr's (2022) research on cooperation, Wintersteller et al's (2022) study on young people's demands, or insecurity by Thoma and Langer (2022). These studies primarily focus on agency and strategies that are developed by young people experiencing transitions.…”