Bridging the Access Gap - A Comparison of Educational Opportunities of Young Newcomers in the European Union (case studies: Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Spain)

Between January 2019 and December 2020, the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR) is conducting a comparative study on young refugees and other newcomers and their (lack of) access to education in four EU member states. The investigation addresses the following research question: How accessible is upper secondary education and post-secondary education for newcomers (aged 15-24) in Europe? What makes these learning tracks (not) accessible for newcomers?
To answer this question, the research sheds light on the interaction between macro-level policies and discourses and micro-level practices which affect the accessibility of education. The research will be conducted in three steps: First, at the macro-level, document and secondary data analyses will help summarize salient European and (sub)national rules, regulations, and dominant discourses around newcomers’ access to education. Second, using secondary data sources, the most relevant local gatekeepers to education, such as schools, training centers, and employers, will be identified for two municipalities in each of the four EU member states. Available municipal data on the local newcomer population will be collected as well. Third, the interaction between macro-level policies and discourses, local gatekeeper practices, and the experiences of newcomers will be analyzed by way of semi-structured interviews.
The empirical work will place primary emphasis on macro-micro-interaction, i.e. how (sub)national and supranational policies and discourses are perceived, acted upon, and ultimately affect the accessibility of education for newcomers in selected municipalities in four EU members states: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, and Spain.