Between Social Classes and Migrant Background. School Integration and Attainment of Immigrants' Offspring in Upper Secondary Education in Italy (2015-2019)

Unlike the other Western nations, Italy has faced just recently immigration waves. Although the first substantial inflows have started thirty years ago, it is only in the last ten years that the presence of children with a migratory background has become sizeable in the Italian education system, as a result of both family reunification and entry into school of children born in Italy from parents of foreign origin or from mixed couples. For this reason, studying the participation of foreign children in upper secondary education has become possible only recently. This is a phase of pivotal importance in the transition to adulthood, during which young people can acquire useful qualifications and skills in order to successfully enter the labour market, and in which it is necessary to decide whether to enroll in tertiary education pathways or not. International literature points out that children of immigrants experience more bumpy school careers than those of natives. However, these disparities are going to be reduced on the basis of the migratory status of the children: compared to the first generations, the second ones obtain better results, and the disadvantage is almost completely erased when processing children of mixed couples. Therefore, the «assimilation hypothesis» seems to be confirmed, since a tighter integration of the family in the Italian context, together with a longer stay and a better knowledge of the Italian language foster a convergence in educational attainments, between natives and foreigners. Nevertheless, since Italy is one of the Western countries where school choices and job careers are most heavily influenced by ascriptive factors, it becomes essential to investigate the role played by the different opportunities and resources that social classes offer to their members. In this sense, it has long been known that the foreign population in Italy is mostly engaged in low-skilled occupations, especially immediately after their entry in the country. Furthermore, the marked lack of fluidity in the social mobility system between generations, and the rigidity of careers' paths contribute to making difficult, for immigrants and their children, to improve their socio-economic condition. Starting from this premise and using data from the Italian Labor Force Survey (2015-2019), the aim of this study is to explore several dimensions, such as: the educational pathways, drop-out risks and the educational choices regarding tertiary education of children aged 15 to 19, both natives or not, who live with at least one parent, taking into account the family social class and the migratory background. This leads to update the evidence which emerged in the previous studies on this subject in the Italian context, regarding the way in which the positive effects of the acculturation process of foreigners in the host society are conditioned by class belonging. This is now possible thanks to the availability of reliable data collected in recent years in which, due to migratory and demographic dynamics, the presence of immigrants' children has considerably grown in the age group 15-19 and in upper secondary schools.