Education and Citizenship: Redemption or Disempowerment? A Study of Portuguese-Speaking Migrant (and Non-Migrant) Youth in Portugal

Abstract

The institution of the European Union has had important implications on educational policies throughout Europe, with a growing emphasis on ‘Citizenship Education’ since the mid-1990s. This can be interpreted as a response to phenomena such as the rise of ethnocentrism and xenophobia and of political disaffection of both older and younger citizens. Departing from Weiler's notion of educational reform as compensatory legitimation, this article analyses the case of migrant youth in Portugal, which is particularly interesting for two reasons. The first is that migrant policies in Portugal have been extremely well evaluated by international agencies, in terms of their potential for the inclusion of migrants. The second is the fact that the migrant groups considered here, Angolans and Brazilians, both have Portuguese as their first language, hence not facing a ‘classical’ barrier to social inclusion. The research presents Portuguese data collected under the European project, Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation (PIDOP), and confronts the vision of policy makers, national and migrant youths, their parents, and their teachers. On the whole, results suggest that there is a huge gap between educational policy and the real life of schools that partly explains the (dis)empowerment of both migrant and national youth. However, in looking at this process, we must also recognise the complex role of generational factors, cultural capital, and political structures (both in the home and host contexts) in explaining youth civic and political engagement and participation.