Conference Agenda

The elite as a social group has been scarcely studied globally (Gaztambide-Fernández, 2006). By elite schools, we mean educational institutions that act by social closure and intergenerationally reproduce their privileges and ways of life (Bourdieu, 1989; Kenway & Koh, 2013-Gessaghi, 2015).

The educational policy context in Chile leaves elite students without guaranteed children's rights. The Quality Assurance Law (No. 20529, 2011), the Violence Law (No. 20536, 2011) and the Inclusion Law (No. 20845, 2015) are applied differentially in these schools. They are not obliged to guarantee violence-free environments, students' participation in governance bodies, and to meet the national academic standards required by the Ministry of Education. The research aimed to explore the national academic performance of elite schools and students' perceptions of rights concerning participation, respect for self-identity and violence-free environments.

Methods: A mixed-methods design was developed with a qualitative multiple-case study approach (4 cases). The quantitative phase develops a descriptive analysis of national databases in reading and mathematics outcomes and personal and social development index. The qualitative phase contemplates the analysis of institutional documents and semi-structured individual and group interviews (20 interviewees).

Results: The main findings show that 13,032 primary and 4,415 secondary education students have lower performance in reading and mathematics than the national average. In other words, if we apply the law regulating schools that receive state funding, 25 schools should be closed, and another 85 should receive support to improve their performance. Furthermore, the analysis of the multiple case studies shows the presence of a managerial and persuasive curriculum, that is, a curriculum that privileges science and mathematics to the detriment of the humanities and the arts. This curriculum orients university choice towards four specific higher education careers (law, medicine, industrial engineering and commercial engineering). This type of curriculum has also been reported by international research. Besides, it is noted that the right to live in an environment free of violence and to express one's identity is the responsibility of the student and his/her family, not the educational institution. Thus, one school has no psychosocial support, and the parents must support their children's processes with external specialists. In another school, students blame themselves for being bullied. Moreover, dynamics of silence concerning situations of violence are identified, which are reinforced by an experience of hegemonic masculinity; and the tension around the right to participate, to be heard and to have a say. Interestingly, parents strongly influence the educational project and determine which activities can be carried out by the student centres in which teachers are hired and dismissed. The choice of activities and teachers has a strong ideological bias; in the case studies, three schools are characterised by conservative and one by progressive positions.

Educational importance: We discuss the lack of protection of children's rights in elite schools. Owners are protected by neoliberal principles for freedom of teaching. Consequently, Chilean legislation tends to show a more robust regulation of public schools than private ones, overlooking the protection of rights for these students.

For immigrant-origin youth, social capital is a valuable resource to cushion challenges, including unwelcoming contexts of reception and discrimination (Dika & Singh, 2002; Portes & Rumbaut, 2014; Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Social capital is the resources embedded in social relationships (Lin, 2001). Schools are essential to forming peer social capital that can positively impact opportunities and outcomes beyond adolescence. Therefore, this study addresses the question: Why and in what ways do immigrant-origin middle school students mobilize their sources of peer social capital in the U.S. and Switzerland?

Connection to Conference Theme

While school leaders’ and teachers’ role in supporting student learning is well established, less is known about how they shape students’ peer social capital formation and mobilization. It is crucial for teachers’ and school leaders’ training and professional development to also address the social side of schools.

Theoretical Framework

Social capital, and particularly peer social capital, provides various forms of informational, social, emotional, and academic support (Dika & Singh, 2002; Enriquez, 2011; Goldstein, 2003; Portes & Rumbaut, 2014; Reynolds, 2007; Straubhaar, 2013).

Structures, such as school climate, policies, and student diversity, affect immigrant-origin students’ opportunities for social capital (Lin, 2001; Taher et al., 2017). Further, for social capital mobilization (i.e., putting one’s social resources to use), adolescents must choose to use them (Lin, 2001). The other person’s demographic background (e.g., having the same gender or race/ethnicity) and virtues (e.g., trustworthiness, integrity) have been shown to matter when youth mobilize social capital (Reynolds, 2007; Stanton‐Salazar & Spina, 2003; Straubhaar, 2013).

Methods & Data

Twenty-two immigrant-origin middle school students were interviewed (14 from two schools in the Western U.S. and eight from a school in Switzerland). Each student was interviewed 3-4 times about their support networks, friendships, and school experiences, resulting in 41 hours of semi-structured interview data. These data were analyzed inductively and with a set of a priori codes.

Findings

This study confirmed (a) trust/ friendship was a prerequisite for the mobilization of peer social capital (i.e., asking a peer for help and support); (b) proximity (e.g., being (seat) neighbors, attending the same classroom), similar interests, and shared demographics were relevant in building and maintaining friendships. Further, the study adds nuance. First, while some demographics were relevant across contexts (i.e., gender, language), others’ relevance differed in intensity (i.e., race/ethnicity in the U.S. and immigrant background in Switzerland). Second, students in all three schools valued integrity in their friends but assessed integrity based on different measures. While educators’ verdicts and school suspensions were frequently referenced to determine who would be a “bad friend” in the U.S., they were not in Switzerland.

Importance for Theory, Practice, Policy

This study adds nuance to the literature by highlighting how the broader context shaped immigrant-origin youths’ social capital mobilization. The study also has implications for practice and policy, as it showed how, for example, the impact of school policies and disciplinary measures might go beyond students’ access to learning opportunities and shape their peer social capital (i.e., label them as “bad friends”).