It is well-established in educational research and sociology that education (formal, non-formal and informal) plays a key role in the inclusion and integration of migrants into hosting societies socially, culturally, economically, and politically (Fejes & Dahlstedt, 2017, Shan, 2015). However, a close look at the research reveals that there is a lack of representation of migrant women, even though there were recent critical and feminist studies focusing on migrant women, especially in Europe (Erel, 2007), and especially inquiring the learning experiences and processes of embedded within their life biographies. Primary objective of this study is to explore the learning biographies of Turkish migrant women in Germany and Austria who have different education and migration histories in order to understand their educational trajectories and investigate the role of these learning activities on their personal lives and their integration reflecting on individual and systemic differences. I aim for depicting the participation to learning and the transformative role of learning for Turkish migrant women in German and Austrian society as well understanding how their learning biography aligns with their life course and transition. Questions that guide my study are: 1. How do Turkish migrant women construct perceptions of learning and education, and in what ways do these constructions contribute to shaping their experiences as migrants? 2. How does the process of learning play a role in fostering social inclusion and integration within the German labour market for Turkish migrant women based on individual and systemic characteristics? 3. In what ways are the learning biographies of Turkish migrant women configured, and how do these biographies correspond to their life courses, revealing the dynamic interplay between personal learning experiences and broader life trajectories? This study uses a life course approach, which includes in-depth narrative/biographical interviews with Turkish migrant women according to sampling criteria (migration year and education level). I aim to capture “the objective shape and formation of life courses as well as their subjective biographical meaning” in relation to learning (Wingens et al., 2011, p. 6). As it is an ongoing study, (I am continuing to recruit participants and conducting interviews) I am not able to report results, but first interviews (5 women, all first-in-family academics) provide insights about how highly skilled women’s educational biography aligns with their integration and self-identification and the effect of formal learning on their perception of education.

Erel, U. (2007). Constructing Meaningful Lives: Biographical Methods in Research on Migrant Women, Sociological Research Online, 12 (4), http://www.socresonline.org.uk /12/4/5.html.doi:10.5153/sro.1573 Fejes, A., & Dahlstedt, M. (2017). Popular education, migration and a discourse of inclusion. Studies in the Education of Adults, 49(2), 214-227 https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2018.1463656 Shan, H., (2015). Distributed pedagogy of difference: reimagining immigrant training and education. Canadian journal for studies in adult education, 27 (3), 1–16.134. Wingens, M., de Walk, H., Windzio, M., & Aybek, C. (2011). The Sociological Life Course Approach and Research on Migration and Integration. In M. Wingens, H. de Walk, M. Windzio, & C. Aybek (Eds.) A Life-Course Perspective on Migration and Integration. Springer, pp: 126.