Pathways to Success - France

Successful children of migrants and their school and work trajectories


The research programme “Pathways to Success: Successful children of migrants and their school and work trajectories” aims to investigate the emerging “new elite of migrant origin” in France on the example of successful children of Magrebi, Caribbean and Turkish migrants. The programme focuses on the upward mobility careers of migrants’ descendants and the role of family dynamics and family resources. It aims to identify the main factors influencing their educational and labour market success and to transmit its findings to a wider audience in order to create awareness for respective policies and supportive measures.

The programme uses two types of data: on the one hand, data from quantitative surveys (TIES –The Integration of the European Second Generation and TeO –Trajectoires et Origines); and on the other hand, qualitative interviews (around 90 interviews). The different axes of the programme examine the social conditions of the upward mobility and links between educational level and access to the labour market.. The French data will be part of an international comparison, including systematic comparisons between national datasets.

Programme team: Dr Emmanuelle Santelli, Dr Yael Brinbaum, Dr Stephanie Condon, Dr Laure Moguerou

Duration: 2010-2013 (or 2014)

The research programme « Pathways to Success » is part of one of the key projects at INED (National institute of demographic studies) and is funded by INED and CNAF.