Completed project · 2015–2017
Migration-related difference in company-based preparation for vocational training
This ethnographic study investigates company-based preparation for training among young men from migrant backgrounds who, despite participating in transition-system programmes, are disadvantaged in accessing fully qualifying vocational training. It particularly examines workplace training staff's actions to understand migration-related distinctions within constructions of difference in educational practice.
MIDIA – Migration-related difference in company-based preparation for vocational training of young men
The project examines approaches to heterogeneity in introductory company training as a specific area of vocational support education. Given the overrepresentation of the presumed ‘risk group’ of young men from migrant backgrounds in the transition system, it investigates the significance of migration-related differences in workplace learning.
The project rejects an ontological understanding of heterogeneity: the relevance of differences, such as ethnicity, culture or language, is not assumed. Instead, it empirically examines whether and how workplace participants themselves articulate and produce migration-related distinctions alongside gender and social background through practices and routines. Participant observation at the workplace explores the micro-level of educational activity, supplemented by qualitative interviews with training personnel and group discussions with young people.
During the project period, January 2015 to December 2017, approaches to heterogeneity are investigated in two occupational fields. Funding comes from the University of Bremen's Central Research Development Fund (‘Focus Projects’).