Educational decisions of adolescent second-generation immigrant Muslim women in Switzerland

A doctoral project supported by the University of Teacher Education (PH Bern, Switzerland) for 2.5 years from July 2014 onwards.

PhD candidate: lic. phil. Nathalie Gasser

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Martin Baumann

Abstract
The project examines how adolescent second-generation immigrant Muslim women negotiate, depict and reflect upon their social positioning in society during the biographically relevant transfer from the compulsory education to the further educational system in Switzerland, and what role religion and the discursive differential category (Differenzkategorie) “Muslim” plays.

Objective
The aim of the project is to gain insights into which identification negotiation-processes trigger the educational decisions of adolescent second-generation immigrant Muslim women and, which role religion and the discursive differentiating category “Muslima” plays, in particular if and how these factors influence the occupational biographical process and choices regarding further education. The conceptual starting point of this project is the assumption, based on recent youth-sociological studies, that this transition can be seen as a potential reorientation or repositioning.

Methodology
The focus is on adolescent Muslim women with a second-generation migratory background in the German speaking part of Switzerland, who were either born in Switzerland or came to Switzerland as small children.
For the survey an integrated qualitative approach was used, combining focused ethnographic systematic investigations and theme-oriented open interviews.

Relevance
There is a gap in Research on the biographical processes of adolescent second-generation migrant Muslim women in Switzerland, despite the relatively large number of Muslim adolescents in Switzerland. This project shall help to gain insight into the areas of conflict which influence the young women concerning their educational decisions. Also the normative content of the current discourse on Islam regarding its biographical importance shall be explored. Additionally, in order to give pedagogical support during the process of career choice and educational decisions, the project wants to generate new orientational information for teachers on the identificational negotiation-processes of adolescent Muslim women. In improving the awareness of the importance of differential categories in the context of school and vocational training, this project aims at contributing to pedagogical professionalisation.

Project Website PHBern: https://www.phbern.ch/bildungsentscheidungen-adoleszenter-musliminnen.html