Volume (18): Issue (1)

Scientific interest in the impact of the school composition effect on pupil performance has been reflected in the literature for several decades and has recently intensified. In Portugal, sociological research in this field has been scarce, especially quantitative approaches. Taking fourth-grade pupils and their maths results as a reference, the present study seeks to contribute to this field. The objective was to identify the main effect and the moderating effect of school composition (socio-economic and ethnic) on pupil results, controlling the effect of individual and school variables, such as socio-economic status (SES), gender, school trajectory and school size. We particularly sought to understand whether school composition affects pupils’ results and whether the effects vary with their national origins. The current research was supported by an extensive database containing information on 23,143 pupils at 522 public schools in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. A multilevel analysis was developed, considering pupil and school levels. The dependent variable was the mathematics results of fourth-grade pupils in the 2015 National Attainment Test. The results showed that the effect of school’s social composition is more important to student performance than that of the school’s ethnic composition and that pupils from PALOPs (non-immigrants vs. Portuguese-speaking African countries) benefit more than others when they attend schools with a higher average SES.

The expansion of vocational tracks is among the recent transformations of the Portuguese educational system. This policy measure entails risks of increasing ethnoracial segregation and institutional racism, especially considering the lack of monitoring programmes and the historically high-grade retention rates of the educational system. The experience of African immigrants and their offspring in Portugal is marked by a long history of racism associated with colonialism. Drawing on official data from multiple sources for the period between 2008–09 and 2013–14, this article examines developments in ethno-racial segregation in the educational system. Massive grade retention rates and a major orientation towards vocational tracks are apparent among students of African descent. Differences in comparison with their peers of Portuguese origin are striking, even considering students from similar class backgrounds.

This article focuses on a specific segment of children of immigrants: those of mixed origin, with one foreign parent and one native parent, protagonists of the plural and complex identities of contemporaneity. This group receives less attention in both the Portuguese and the international literature on migration, education and youth sociology; however, the group reveals distinctive singularities of social profiles, conditions, objective and subjective trajectories and future orientations. The discussion is based on data from a mixed-method research project involving 1,194 9th grade pupils aged 14–19 years in Portugal, including 405 children of immigrants, with 95 of mixed Portuguese/foreign origin. The comparative analysis reveals a insightful picture of the diverse characteristics and paths within the group of children of immigrants and confirms that mixed origin students encounter more favourable conditions and experiences, especially when compared with other students with immigrant backgrounds.

This article examines negotiations of identity and belonging within the context of Portuguese emigrant descendants’ return to Portugal. Findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 42 individuals from two source countries: Canada and France. Empirical analysis focuses on the individual’s sense of self as defined by their post-diasporic lives, delving into processes of identity negotiations and breaking down the construction of a sense of belonging. Results reveal that processes of integration frequently hold obstacles derived from clashes with Portuguese society’s ways of being and acting. Disillusionment with the ‘inner workings’ of Portuguese society and disenchantment brought about by social differentiation and the not always warm welcome on the part of the local population lead returnees to become more aware of their ‘dual allegiances’. The ‘hyphen’ many returned to Portugal thinking they would finally do away with, in the end, ends up becoming just as accentuated at it was in the pre-return.

Chinese immigrants have grown in number in Portugal over decades to become one of the most representative communities in the country. This phenomenon raises crucial questions about the settlement and labour integration of first-generation immigrants and their descendants. One important issue involves understanding the position of Chinese descendants in the labour market, and whether they follow the same professional pathway than their parents. Applying qualitative data, this article addresses the participation of Chinese descendants in the Portuguese job market, paying particular attention to the entrepreneurial activities developed by young Chinese adults. The results point to emerging professional activities interlinked with Golden Visa related businesses in the wake of investment policies launched in Portugal after 2011. This article documents a new dimension to Chinese employment, mainly dominated by Chinese descendants who profit from their in-between social positions to mediate highly skilled services amid Chinese business migrants and the Portuguese society.

Granada and Lisbon, cities defined as ‘super-diverse’, host dynamics of exchange and interactions among sociocultural groups that go beyond mere coexistence. Educational environments (both formal and informal) host these aforementioned relationships especially among teenagers. Adolescents represent a significant social group as the ‘subjects/objects’ of public interventions through intercultural programmes and are protagonists of daily intercultural dialogues. In this article, we approach these ideas through the concept of conviviality. We comparatively analyse the indicators from the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), a policy instrument-tool, applied in the education field and the data obtained through ethnographic research carried out in educational environments in Granada and Lisbon in specific programmes targeting adolescents and youth. Through this analysis we unveil the gaps of migration integration indexes such as MIPEX in the field of integration in education, compared with an ethnographic assessment of intercultural relations on how youngsters live and learn interculturality.