Outsourcing the State’s responsibilities? Third Sector Organizations supporting migrant families’ participation in schools in Catalonia and London

Abstract

Based on two case studies of Third Sector Organizations (TSOs) working with schools and parents in Catalonia and London, this paper aims to discuss some of the implications of ‘participative’ programmes aimed at involving those migrant families seen by schools as ‘hard to reach’. First, we describe how an ambiguous notion of participation can shift responsibilities to families and leave internal school practices free from critical gaze. Second, we focus on the complexities and tensions involved in the process of partnering TSOs with schools because of the bureaucratic nature of educational institutions and unresolved conflicts of interests and responsibilities. Finally, we argue that the potential of these initiatives were limited and diluted by being stand-alone and time-limited. Our analysis suggests that, in spite of their apparent success, they ended up being part of powerful authorising narratives that justify the outsourcing of public services and the abdication of the State’s responsibilities.

Keywords:

• Participation
• migrant families
• Third Sector Organizations
• school-family partnerships

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the parents, educators and TSO workers involved in the fieldwork. Special thanks go to Judith Boadella, coordinator at FaPaC, Taylan Sahbaz ([email protected]), Day-Mer co-ordinator, and Asli Demirel, education co-ordinator, for their support throughout the project. We would also like to thank all the people who generously gave their time to assist with this project, either responding to our questionnaire, taking part to the focus group and interviews or providing us with data, information and advice.

Funding

This work was supported by the Dissertation Grant Scheme FPU [AP2009-1712] and developed within the project ‘School mobility in the Barcelona region: types, processes and trends’, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competition [CSO 2012-34285 2013-2015] directed by Prof. Silvia Carrasco at UAB. The project at London was funded through the Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) ‘Research Capacity Building Cluster’. The TSRC (http://www.tsrc.ac.uk) is a collaborative venture by the Universities of Birmingham and Southampton, with contributions from Middlesex and Kent, and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Office of the Third Sector and Barrow Cadbury Trust.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Dissertation Grant Scheme FPU AP2009-1712 and developed within the project School mobility in the Barcelona region: types, processes and trends, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competition (CSO 2012-34285 2013-2015) directed by Prof. Silvia Carrasco at UAB. The project at London was funded through the Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) ‘Research Capacity Building Cluster’. The TSRC (http://www.tsrc.ac.uk) is a collaborative venture by the Universities of Birmingham and Southampton, with contributions from Middlesex and Kent, and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Office of the Third Sector and Barrow Cadbury Trust.