Important Encounters for Education and Employment

Abstract

AbstractSupport from other people has been identified as one of the key factors facilitating migrants’ access to their previous vocational area in their new country (Eliasson et al., J Educ Work 35(8): 828–842). In this text, migrants’ descriptions of encounters that have influenced their paths to education or employment are studied in depth. The encounters are analysed through theories of social identity construction (Jenkins, Social identity, 2004) and from a class, gender, and ethnicity perspective. The material consists of 20 interviews with migrants who have a professional education from their home country and have gained access to their previous vocational area in Sweden. The result shows that encounters can lead to direct access to education and workplaces, but also function as support and encouragement that strengthen the migrant’s fighting spirit. In other words, successful encounters may lead to successful inclusion into working life. Aspects of ethnicity and profession (class) are visible in the analysis of the encounters, while gender is less visible since the respondents are working in traditionally masculine- or feminine-coded sectors. Resistance to other people’s negative constructions of the respondents’ identities is visible in many narratives, which also seems important to their persistence in job searching.