Interruption or Continuity? Transnational School Transitions

Author(s):

Anu Warinowski(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 08 A, School-related Transitions Within a Life Course Perspective – Later Phases

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

09:00-10:30

Room:

ESI 2 - Aula 4

Chair:

Joana Lúcio

Contribution

In the era of globalization, nation-states have lost their importance. The notion of transnational space has grown common. Mobility has not only increased, but also become more complex and flexible. People are temporarily moving across borders for a whole host of reasons including employment, trade and business. (i.a. Rizvi 2009.) By the term ‘expatriates’, I refer to the highly-skilled globally mobile employees.

Globalization is bringing out pressures to manage transitions (Ecclestone, Biesta & Hughes 2010, 3). Research into transitions is expanding. In educational studies, the transition from school to work, from adolescence to adulthood, has been thecentral transition. (Field 2010.)

Lawn and Nóvoa (2002) have used the concept of Europeanization to describe the formation of new European identities leading to the born of the European education space. However, school related transitions have been studied in a national level. As a result, transnational transitions and the European level have been neglected in the research of transitions. This study interlocks with this gap in the transitional research.

The sample of this paper consists of the children of Finnish expatriate families facing transnational school transitions inside Europe in the context of expatriation and repatriation. The goal of this paper is to find out whether this Finnish student group experiences continuity or interruption in its educational trajectory because of transnational transitions. The special focus is on a European – Finnish – group of students.

The concept of “Third Culture Kids” (TCK) has been the most common concept used in the context of the children of expatriate families. Research on TCKs has mostly been conducted in the U.S. and Japan. In the American research, the International School has been the ultimate context for American TCKs living abroad. For the Japanese children living abroad, most of them have been studying in a local school. While language issues are widely discussed in the Japanese research, language is largely absent in the American TCK research.(e.g. Baker Cottrell 2011.)

Method

Finnish expatriate families with children were reached after repatriation in Finland. Project parents’ contact information was received through 399 school units in eight cities in Finland. Finnish expatriate parents’ online survey questionnaire data consist of the answers of 99 families with 156 children that lived in a European country. Most of the families (58 %) had lived abroad over two years. For the families, business expatriates formed the slight majority (56 %). 58 per cent of the expatriates were on a global assignment, while the self-initiated expatriates being the large minority (42 %). Every fifth child had already attended school living in Finland prior to the expatriation. Of the children, 114 attended school while living abroad in Europe.

Expected Outcomes

Experiences of discontinuity were in character for the transnational school transitions in this European context. Parents evaluated that the school context in another European country differed quite widely from the school context in Finland after repatriation (M 2.72 a four-point Likert scale, 1 = not at all, 4 = plenty of differences). The great majority (91 %) of the children had experienced a change in school system in the repatriation context. While living abroad, half of the children (52 %) enrolled in a local school. Every fourth child attended abroad an International School. This result gives a different picture on the school context than the American TCK research. Moreover, the majority of pupils (66 %) had faced an alteration in the instructional language after repatriation. In the regard of school context and instructional language, the situation of this European group of students was more closely connected to the Japanese than American group. Further European research about transnational school transitions is necessarily needed. In the micro-level, education still seems to fasten on nation-states. In the light of this study, the process of Europeanization and the politics of European education space have not yet come across to reach greatly the individual level.

References

Baker Cottrell, A. 2011. Explaining differences: TCKs and other CCKs, American and Japanese TCKs. In G. Bell-Villada & N. Sichel sekä F. Eidse & E. Neil Orr (Eds.) Writing out of Limbo: International Childhoods, Global Nomads and Third Culture Kids. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 57–77. Ecclestone, K., Biesta, G. & Hughes, M. 2010. Transitions in the Lifecourse: the Role of Identity, Agency and Structure. In K. Ecclestone, G. Biesta & M. Hughes (Eds.) Transitions and Learning through the Lifecourse. London: Routledge, 1–15. Field, J. 2010. Preface. In K. Ecclestone, G. Biesta & M. Hughes (Eds.) Transitions and Learning through the Lifecourse. London: Routledge, xvii–xxiv. Lawn, M. & Nóvoa, A. 2002. Introduction: Fabricating Europe: the Formation of an Education Space. In A. Nóvoa & M. Lawn (Eds.) Fabricating Europe: the Formation of an Education Space. New York: Kluwer Academic, 1–13. Rizvi, F. 2009. Global Mobility and the Challenges of Educational Research and Policy. In T. S. Popkewitz & F. Rizvi (Eds.) Globalization and the Study of Education. The National Society for the Study of Education. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 268–289.

Author Information

Anu Warinowski (presenting / submitting)

University of Turku

Department of Education