Demographic changes confirm that national and international migration movement aims at cities, changing the population structures that often lead to societal and educational consequences among other things. The impact of international migration and multi-locationality on the lives of dispersed communities themselves is a complex phenomenon underpinned by the interplay between the parent and the host cultures in the context of multi-locationality. The differences and tensions between the parent and the host cultures and values impact on the lives of the diasporan communiies in multiple ways.

The paper discusses girls’ education among Pakistani diaspora in England to discuss their schooling choices, drawing on relevant literature and evidence from a study funded by the Nottingham City Council, Children’s Services to seek the views of diverse communities in that city with regard to their needs in terms of single-sex education provision. The data was collected from different stakeholders belonging to diverse ethnic and faith groups using multiple data collection tools. The data was recorded by ethnicity, faith, gender and heritage. As the focus of this paper is on girls’ education among Pakistani diaspora, the evidence availed here is drawn from the data collected from the Pakistani participants. The study was guided by a single-question agenda regarding support or otherwise for single-sex schooling, seeking views in terms of:

The immediate objective of the study was to inform future policy with regard to continuing the provision of a girls’ school in an urban locality in Nottingham with a very high mix of diverse ethnic and faith communities. However, it is also expected to contribute to significant academic debates with implications for policy and practice in similar contexts.

Will you prefer single-sex school?

What is good about single-sex schools and why are they important to you/ your community?

What is not so good about single-sex schools and what are the disadvantages as far as you/your community are concerned?

Theoretical Framework The paper explores the complexity of discourses interacting to shape the approaches/choices pertaining to girls’ education among Pakistani diaspora. It debates the developing shifts in views and practices across gender, age and heritage as shaped under diasporan influences with particular focus on the impact of multi-locationality. There is evidence among many diasporas of a high level of adherence to the culture, traditions, values and patterns of behaviour of the parent country when in the receiving country. Diaspora communities tend to make efforts to retain their culture, belief systems and associated identity not only for themselves but also for their coming generations, availing various strategies and practices such as retaining links with motherland community, inculcating their children with ethnic culture and values, speaking/teaching homeland language/s to their children, encouraging ethnic religion, dressing ethnic and others (Sheffer, 2003 Sharma and Annamalai, 2003 Puwar, and Raghuram, 2003).  Therefore, ‘where and how’ to educate their children becomes a significant issue for them. This paper investigates the views of Pakistani diaspora on the issue of girls’ education in the context of multi-locationality to explore the factors influencing the views and choices.

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