Michela Franceschelli | UCL Institute of Education (original) (raw)
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Papers by Michela Franceschelli
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020
The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the ... more The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the expansion of European Free Movement between the 1990s and early 2000s. Then, mobility literature sou...
Current Sociology, 2015
Young people from working class backgrounds remained mostly excluded from the widening educationa... more Young people from working class backgrounds remained mostly excluded from the widening educational participation, which characterised post-war Britain. Based on 20 semi-structured interviews part of a wider study about ‘Social Participation and Identity’ (2008-2009), this article explores the unusual learning trajectories of a group of working class adults born in 1958, who participated in higher education (HE) in a context where most people from the same socio-economic backgrounds did not. Drawing from Bourdieu’s social theory, findings suggest that different types of retrospective accounts were mobilised to reconcile working class habitus and the perceived habitus as adults. Most research on working class and higher education focuses on the experiences of youth. By contrast, the use of retrospective accounts of adults has enabled us to capture the implications that the educational trajectories have later in life. We consider these accounts part of wider narratives that we define ‘...
Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Countries Studies, 2016
Since the 1950s the incoming flows of immigrants have deeply transformed the social composition o... more Since the 1950s the incoming flows of immigrants have deeply transformed the social composition of British society which has become increasingly multicultural. Amongst other minority groups the position of Muslims, who are the second largest religious group in the UK, is particularly difficult. The 9/11 and London bombings (2005) have increased the moral panic about Muslims perceived as ‘hard to integrate’ and a threat to western democracies. In this context, the thesis aims to explore the negotiation of religious and national identities amongst young British Muslims from South Asian backgrounds as well as the strategies used by their parents to transmit values. The thesis applies and extends Bourdieu’s (1930-2002) theory of habitus and social field to the study of identity negotiation and intergenerational transmission. In so doing, the study adopts a sociological perspective which is sensitive to individual action, and conceptualises identity as the process of individuals assimila...
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020
The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the ... more The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the expansion of European Free Movement between the 1990s and early 2000s. Then, mobility literature sou...
In this article we explore the implications for young people’s life opportunities of rising level... more In this article we explore the implications for young people’s life opportunities of rising levels of qualifications in England, drawing on a range of sources, including the OECD’s 2014 Survey and Adult Skills (SAS) and the UK Labour Force Survey. We find that increasing rates of participation in post 16 education and training in England has led to a substantial rise in qualification levels for the current generation of youth compared their parents’ generation. More inclusive participation has also narrowed inequalities in qualification outcomes and slightly reduced the social gaps in attainment of qualifications, at least at the upper secondary level. However, the gains in educational opportunities for young people are to some extent illusory. Improvements in the skills we can measure, like literacy and numeracy, have not kept pace with increasing qualifications rates, and inequalities in skills have reduced much less than those in qualifications, if at all. This suggests that much...
Early school leavers is a relevant priority for the UK as it has a higher rate of early school le... more Early school leavers is a relevant priority for the UK as it has a higher rate of early school leaving (13,5%) than the EU average (12,7%). Early school leaving has a negative impact both on the individuals concerned and on society at large in terms of holding back economic performance and undermining democracy. In the UK the group of interest, however, is NEETs among 16-24 year olds rather than early school leavers. The number of NEETs has declined in recent years to the point of reaching pre-crisis levels, but the percentage of NEETs among 19-24 year olds is almost twice as high as among 16-18 year olds. Paradoxically, government policies primarily target the younger age group, with the extension of compulsory education and training to age 18 likely to be the most effective measure to further reduce the number of NEETs in this category. The little it has done influencing the older group has had negative effects: the decision to increase tuition fees to 9000 pounds has led to a dra...
As part of the national evaluation of Care to Learn, a self-completion postal survey was conducte... more As part of the national evaluation of Care to Learn, a self-completion postal survey was conducted of young parents who received Care to Learn funding during the 2003/04 academic year. The survey was conducted during the winter of 2006. This report shows that the funding and related support was very important to young parents remaining in, or returning to, learning. Furthermore, Care to Learn enabled many of these young parents to progress in terms of gaining qualifications and enhancing their ability to enter and compete effectively in the labour market. Some respondents were studying at university by the time of the survey and others had entered jobs that they had long aimed for.
The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (Inclusion), the British Market Research Bureau (BMR... more The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (Inclusion), the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) and the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) were commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2007 to undertake a survey on the impact of learning on employability. This report presents the key findings of the survey. The survey investigated the impact and benefits of general learning in further education (FE) on: the economic status of workless individuals - their progression into work and off benefits; and the personal impact of learning - in terms of improving skills and increasing confidence. Approximately 10,000 learners were interviewed by telephone from June to August 2007. They had all undertaken an FE course which completed in 2005-06, and all were eligible for fee remission due to receipt of workless benefits. Ten per cent of the sample were working less than 16 hours a week when their course started, and all were aged between 20 and 55. The key findings were ...
Visual Studies
The importance of visual evidence-and particularly films and videos-has become more prominent wit... more The importance of visual evidence-and particularly films and videos-has become more prominent with the fast pace of technological development that has made filming more easily accessible. Since the early 20 th century, films have been used as a data collection method in social science research, but less attention has been given to their potential for research dissemination. It is well documented that visual representations are powerful means to broadcast public discourses. The Arab Spring in 2011 and the increasing movement of people across the Mediterranean Sea are a case in point. Images and videos of people trying to reach Europe have contributed to the construction of what is often referred to as the 'Mediterranean migration crisis'. In this article, we explore the process of making a film documentary about the people in the Italian island of Lampedusa, a key transitory site for migrants, and how they deal with the challenges of this 'crisis' while trying to respond to the local struggles of their isolated community. Drawing on the analysis of 'audio-visual accounts'-as the filmed verbal elaborations that broadcast themes emerging from social science research-we reflect on the potential and drawbacks of film documentaries for both knowledge production and research dissemination.
Sociology
This article draws on the case of the Italian island of Lampedusa to explore how global migration... more This article draws on the case of the Italian island of Lampedusa to explore how global migration nurtures populist discourses at the local community level. Lampedusa, a key transitory site for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, revealed strong concerns about the neglect of local public services and the mismanagement of migration. These concerns fed a deep sense of resentment that the islanders addressed toward the Italian state, resonating with the experiences of other communities around the world and reifing populist ideas. Based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, and disseminated by a film documentary, the article reveals how apparently similar global populist experiences disclose different local worries and long-term historical processes. In doing so, it unfolds the socially situated nature of Lampedusa’s populist resentment and so it contributes to a more thorough understanding of the relation between local communities and the national state as it i...
Sociological Research Online
In this article, we explore how Black Caribbean parents prepare their children for the challenges... more In this article, we explore how Black Caribbean parents prepare their children for the challenges ahead-including anticipated discrimination-in order to boost their opportunities in education and work and eventually their social mobility. Drawing upon family case studies with Black Caribbean families in London, this article focuses on what we have defined as retrospective parenting to mean the use of narratives about the past as resources for parenting. Retrospective parenting draws on the struggles of a cumulative past and aims to transmit a sense of relational resilience, drawing simultaneously on individual, family, and community histories. We found that retrospective parenting had restorative purposes, with parents not only aiming to make up for their missed opportunities but also being preventive and progressive, conveying aims with forward-looking implications for the future of their children.
YOUNG
In the aftermath of the 2008 global economic crisis, the future of young people is often presente... more In the aftermath of the 2008 global economic crisis, the future of young people is often presented in a negative light. Despite the recent difficult circumstances, our mixed-method study found that young people in Britain were still optimistic about their personal future. In this article, we explore the tension between this optimism and the (often less positive) actual circumstances of young people. Our findings suggest that young people's views of the future were shaped by their deep-seated faith in the transformative power of hard work. We shall argue that this faith results from young people's psychological adjustments to neoliberal beliefs about the potential of human agency to forge the future, with implications for views of others and society more generally. YOung 26(4S) 1-17
Identity and Upbringing in South Asian Muslim Families, 2016
Identity and Upbringing in South Asian Muslim Families, 2016
Identity and Upbringing in South Asian Muslim Families, 2016
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020
The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the ... more The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the expansion of European Free Movement between the 1990s and early 2000s. Then, mobility literature sou...
Current Sociology, 2015
Young people from working class backgrounds remained mostly excluded from the widening educationa... more Young people from working class backgrounds remained mostly excluded from the widening educational participation, which characterised post-war Britain. Based on 20 semi-structured interviews part of a wider study about ‘Social Participation and Identity’ (2008-2009), this article explores the unusual learning trajectories of a group of working class adults born in 1958, who participated in higher education (HE) in a context where most people from the same socio-economic backgrounds did not. Drawing from Bourdieu’s social theory, findings suggest that different types of retrospective accounts were mobilised to reconcile working class habitus and the perceived habitus as adults. Most research on working class and higher education focuses on the experiences of youth. By contrast, the use of retrospective accounts of adults has enabled us to capture the implications that the educational trajectories have later in life. We consider these accounts part of wider narratives that we define ‘...
Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Countries Studies, 2016
Since the 1950s the incoming flows of immigrants have deeply transformed the social composition o... more Since the 1950s the incoming flows of immigrants have deeply transformed the social composition of British society which has become increasingly multicultural. Amongst other minority groups the position of Muslims, who are the second largest religious group in the UK, is particularly difficult. The 9/11 and London bombings (2005) have increased the moral panic about Muslims perceived as ‘hard to integrate’ and a threat to western democracies. In this context, the thesis aims to explore the negotiation of religious and national identities amongst young British Muslims from South Asian backgrounds as well as the strategies used by their parents to transmit values. The thesis applies and extends Bourdieu’s (1930-2002) theory of habitus and social field to the study of identity negotiation and intergenerational transmission. In so doing, the study adopts a sociological perspective which is sensitive to individual action, and conceptualises identity as the process of individuals assimila...
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020
The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the ... more The dichotomy between mobility and migration became a disputed conceptual distinction during the expansion of European Free Movement between the 1990s and early 2000s. Then, mobility literature sou...
In this article we explore the implications for young people’s life opportunities of rising level... more In this article we explore the implications for young people’s life opportunities of rising levels of qualifications in England, drawing on a range of sources, including the OECD’s 2014 Survey and Adult Skills (SAS) and the UK Labour Force Survey. We find that increasing rates of participation in post 16 education and training in England has led to a substantial rise in qualification levels for the current generation of youth compared their parents’ generation. More inclusive participation has also narrowed inequalities in qualification outcomes and slightly reduced the social gaps in attainment of qualifications, at least at the upper secondary level. However, the gains in educational opportunities for young people are to some extent illusory. Improvements in the skills we can measure, like literacy and numeracy, have not kept pace with increasing qualifications rates, and inequalities in skills have reduced much less than those in qualifications, if at all. This suggests that much...
Early school leavers is a relevant priority for the UK as it has a higher rate of early school le... more Early school leavers is a relevant priority for the UK as it has a higher rate of early school leaving (13,5%) than the EU average (12,7%). Early school leaving has a negative impact both on the individuals concerned and on society at large in terms of holding back economic performance and undermining democracy. In the UK the group of interest, however, is NEETs among 16-24 year olds rather than early school leavers. The number of NEETs has declined in recent years to the point of reaching pre-crisis levels, but the percentage of NEETs among 19-24 year olds is almost twice as high as among 16-18 year olds. Paradoxically, government policies primarily target the younger age group, with the extension of compulsory education and training to age 18 likely to be the most effective measure to further reduce the number of NEETs in this category. The little it has done influencing the older group has had negative effects: the decision to increase tuition fees to 9000 pounds has led to a dra...
As part of the national evaluation of Care to Learn, a self-completion postal survey was conducte... more As part of the national evaluation of Care to Learn, a self-completion postal survey was conducted of young parents who received Care to Learn funding during the 2003/04 academic year. The survey was conducted during the winter of 2006. This report shows that the funding and related support was very important to young parents remaining in, or returning to, learning. Furthermore, Care to Learn enabled many of these young parents to progress in terms of gaining qualifications and enhancing their ability to enter and compete effectively in the labour market. Some respondents were studying at university by the time of the survey and others had entered jobs that they had long aimed for.
The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (Inclusion), the British Market Research Bureau (BMR... more The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (Inclusion), the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) and the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) were commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2007 to undertake a survey on the impact of learning on employability. This report presents the key findings of the survey. The survey investigated the impact and benefits of general learning in further education (FE) on: the economic status of workless individuals - their progression into work and off benefits; and the personal impact of learning - in terms of improving skills and increasing confidence. Approximately 10,000 learners were interviewed by telephone from June to August 2007. They had all undertaken an FE course which completed in 2005-06, and all were eligible for fee remission due to receipt of workless benefits. Ten per cent of the sample were working less than 16 hours a week when their course started, and all were aged between 20 and 55. The key findings were ...
Visual Studies
The importance of visual evidence-and particularly films and videos-has become more prominent wit... more The importance of visual evidence-and particularly films and videos-has become more prominent with the fast pace of technological development that has made filming more easily accessible. Since the early 20 th century, films have been used as a data collection method in social science research, but less attention has been given to their potential for research dissemination. It is well documented that visual representations are powerful means to broadcast public discourses. The Arab Spring in 2011 and the increasing movement of people across the Mediterranean Sea are a case in point. Images and videos of people trying to reach Europe have contributed to the construction of what is often referred to as the 'Mediterranean migration crisis'. In this article, we explore the process of making a film documentary about the people in the Italian island of Lampedusa, a key transitory site for migrants, and how they deal with the challenges of this 'crisis' while trying to respond to the local struggles of their isolated community. Drawing on the analysis of 'audio-visual accounts'-as the filmed verbal elaborations that broadcast themes emerging from social science research-we reflect on the potential and drawbacks of film documentaries for both knowledge production and research dissemination.
Sociology
This article draws on the case of the Italian island of Lampedusa to explore how global migration... more This article draws on the case of the Italian island of Lampedusa to explore how global migration nurtures populist discourses at the local community level. Lampedusa, a key transitory site for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, revealed strong concerns about the neglect of local public services and the mismanagement of migration. These concerns fed a deep sense of resentment that the islanders addressed toward the Italian state, resonating with the experiences of other communities around the world and reifing populist ideas. Based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, and disseminated by a film documentary, the article reveals how apparently similar global populist experiences disclose different local worries and long-term historical processes. In doing so, it unfolds the socially situated nature of Lampedusa’s populist resentment and so it contributes to a more thorough understanding of the relation between local communities and the national state as it i...
Sociological Research Online
In this article, we explore how Black Caribbean parents prepare their children for the challenges... more In this article, we explore how Black Caribbean parents prepare their children for the challenges ahead-including anticipated discrimination-in order to boost their opportunities in education and work and eventually their social mobility. Drawing upon family case studies with Black Caribbean families in London, this article focuses on what we have defined as retrospective parenting to mean the use of narratives about the past as resources for parenting. Retrospective parenting draws on the struggles of a cumulative past and aims to transmit a sense of relational resilience, drawing simultaneously on individual, family, and community histories. We found that retrospective parenting had restorative purposes, with parents not only aiming to make up for their missed opportunities but also being preventive and progressive, conveying aims with forward-looking implications for the future of their children.
YOUNG
In the aftermath of the 2008 global economic crisis, the future of young people is often presente... more In the aftermath of the 2008 global economic crisis, the future of young people is often presented in a negative light. Despite the recent difficult circumstances, our mixed-method study found that young people in Britain were still optimistic about their personal future. In this article, we explore the tension between this optimism and the (often less positive) actual circumstances of young people. Our findings suggest that young people's views of the future were shaped by their deep-seated faith in the transformative power of hard work. We shall argue that this faith results from young people's psychological adjustments to neoliberal beliefs about the potential of human agency to forge the future, with implications for views of others and society more generally. YOung 26(4S) 1-17
Identity and Upbringing in South Asian Muslim Families, 2016
Identity and Upbringing in South Asian Muslim Families, 2016
Identity and Upbringing in South Asian Muslim Families, 2016