Agency and the school-to-work transition of care leavers: A retrospective study of Luxembourgish young people

in Children and Youth Services Review (2021), early online

This article presents empirical results from a study (2015–2018) on young people leaving care in Luxembourg. A special focus deals with the processes of transitioning from care to work. Education appears ... [more ▼]

This article presents empirical results from a study (2015–2018) on young people leaving care in Luxembourg. A special focus deals with the processes of transitioning from care to work. Education appears to be crucial for a successful transition, as it determines life chances, such as labour market chances, but so far inequality studies have neither researched transitions from care nor have the theoretical concepts developed in inequality research been used to understand the situation of care leavers. They might help to explain the different mechanisms behind the disadvantages of students in foster and residential care and their educational attainment. This paper thus attempts to theorise leaving care from an inequality perspective and the interdependencies with concepts of relational agency, taking into account the heterogeneity among care leavers, their trajectories and achievements (see also Göbel, Hadjar, Karl, Peters, & Jäger, 2020). The main objective of our analysis is to investigate how agency is achieved in the transition from school to work among care leavers, taking into consideration institutional pathways (continuities and discontinuities) in the care and the educational system. [less ▲]

Designing the (Most) Mobile University: The Centrality of International Student Mobility in Luxembourg’s Higher Education Policy Discourse

in Higher Education Policy (2020), 33

The nexus of national educational and migration policies and international student mobility (ISM) in Europe becomes strikingly visible in Luxembourg. ISM is central for higher education policy in ... [more ▼]

The nexus of national educational and migration policies and international student mobility (ISM) in Europe becomes strikingly visible in Luxembourg. ISM is central for higher education policy in Luxembourg, but also for larger questions of social integration and economic development. Based on a discourse analysis of the political debates surrounding the foundation of the University of Luxembourg in 2003, we analyze how and why ISM became a cornerstone of higher education policy in Luxembourg. Our findings reveal that, on the one hand, incoming student mobility — and the establishment of an international research university — was and is seen as a means of competing for the best and brightest, regionally and globally, and of securing human resources to satisfy a booming, internationalized labor market. On the other hand, outgoing student mobility has traditionally been viewed as the main mechanism to establish international networks across Europe and foster elites back home. Both incoming and outgoing mobility are thought necessary to establish and maintain a competitive and sustainable knowledge economy. Reconstructing the underlying rationales behind the support for ISM as the key to higher education policy, we explain why Luxembourg currently has the highest proportion of ISM worldwide. [less ▲]

Bildungsverläufe und Agency von Care-Leaver_innen in Luxemburg

in Göbel, Sabrina; Karl, Ute; Lunz, Marei (Eds.) et al Wege junger Menschen aus Heimen und Pflegefamilien. Agency in schwierigen Übergängen (2019)

Leaving Care als institutionalisierte Statuspassage und Übergangskonstellation – Einführende Gedanken zum Themenheft

in Sozialmagazin (2018), 2018(7-8), 96

In dieser Ausgabe stellen Autor_innen aktuelle Befunde zu den Themen Übergänge aus der Heimerziehung und Vollzeitpflege vor, weiten den Blick auf die Nachbarländer Luxemburg und Schweiz aus und bieten ... [more ▼]

In dieser Ausgabe stellen Autor_innen aktuelle Befunde zu den Themen Übergänge aus der Heimerziehung und Vollzeitpflege vor, weiten den Blick auf die Nachbarländer Luxemburg und Schweiz aus und bieten Anschlüsse für eine Praxis, die Anregungen sucht, Anforderungen gelingend zu gestalten. Prozesse des Leaving Care und die Situation von Care Leaver_innen sind in den letzten Jahren zunehmend in den Fokus der öffentlichen Aufmerksamkeit gerückt. Im Zuge der Reformdebatte im Kinder- und Jugendhilferecht stellt sich für die professionelle Praxis mehr denn je die Frage, welche Herausforderungen sich daraus für die Arbeit mit jungen Erwachsenen im Übergang aus den Hilfesystemen ergeben. In dieser Ausgabe stellen Autor_innen aktuelle Befunde zu den Themen Übergänge aus der Heimerziehung und Vollzeitpflege vor, weiten den Blick auf Forschungsergebnisse aus den Nachbarländern Luxemburg und Schweiz aus und bieten neue Perspektiven und Anschlüsse für eine Praxis, die Anregungen sucht, Anforderungen gelingend zu gestalten. [less ▲]

Designing the (Most) Mobile University: The Centrality of International Student Mobility in Luxembourg’s Higher Education Policy Discourse

Scientific Conference (2018)