SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT AS MEDIUM FOR INTER-GENERATIONAL SOCIAL MOBILITY BETWEEN IMMIGRANTS. A CASE STUDY

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the role of education and especially of school achievement as a medium for inter-generational social mobility, focusing on the case of Albanian immigrants in Italy. The study was focused on the analyze of school performance and academic achievement of Albanian immigrants of 1.5 generation in correlation with: (a) parents support and educational - occupational aspirations for their children; (b) reaction against stigma toward immigrants; (c) socio-economic status and the professional achievement of Albanian immigrants of 1.5 generation after graduation. The study showed that Albanian immigrants see especially the high education and school achievement as a medium for upward inter-generational mobility, but there is a gap between school achievements of 1.5 generation of Albanian immigrants and their working sphere and still today many Albanian immigrants of 1.5 generation work in manual works as they parents and the ‘intergenerational transmission of the disadvange’s from father to son/daughter†has not disappear.