This research presents and discusses some aspects of a more general scenario focusing on access inequalities to education systems that have been studied through an anthropological approach that integrates anthropology of education (Gobbo F., Jeffrey B., Ogbu J.),  with immigrants (Andall J., Portes A., Queirolo Palmas L.) and educational discourse (Schwartz B., Bocca G.).

In Italy the presence in secondary schools of young immigrants or so called “children of migration” is still a new phenomenon, and thus quite under-examined. Official surveys by the Italian Ministry of Education highlight the great inequality between the courses followed by foreign students and their Italian peers: while the firsts mainly apply to vocational education institutions, the second ones choose high schools.

The paper discusses the limits of these surveys, that appear rather superficial and inadequate to appropriately render the scenario. Two technical decisions are questionable: the use of citizenship as the sole criterion for classification, and reporting the rough outcome of secondary school enrolment without considering the entire process (e.g. drop out numbers, successful careers, course of following studies etcetera).

Taking into account the data collected during a previous ethnography in Torino (2008-2009, mechanics vocational education courses), the present analysis focuses on the growing and changing processes that involve foreign youth, regardless of their origin.

The main goal of my research is a better understanding of the “interaction” between young immigrants and vocational educational system, which was chosen as a sample among other Italian schools because of its practically oriented approach, limited length of attendance and a not so demanding curriculum.

The high number of foreign students in vocational educational system is generally interpreted in sociological literature as a “downwards assimilation” indicator among children of migration (Portes A.). This interpretation reveals a cultural approach that implicitly states the existence of a so called “white way”, an exclusive way of integration well described - and nowadays generally refused - by the linear assimilation theory.

The different perspective adopted by the present paper and its anthropological approach allowed us to define the vocational educational system as an appropriate alternative in the Italian integration process. In particular I will  argue that generally acknowledged criteria (such us nationality or ethnicity) cannot sufficiently support any survey of such an heterogeneous reality. Such assumptions tend to pre-define the young immigrant as a disadvantaged person (Silva R.). Furthermore, fieldwork raises more subtle questions about the correct definition of the research subjects, as it considers the individual agency a factor to be taken into account.  

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