Analysing stereotypes and prejudices about immigrant students in European secondary education

Abstract

This study is part of the QuamMELOT Erasmus+ Project, whose objective is to improve the educational and social inclusion of immigrant minors in general and unaccompanied foreign minors (UFM), through an online course for secondary school teachers with this type of students. This paper aims to analyse the stereotypes and prejudices about immigrant students in secondary education in three European countries: Spain, Greece and Italy. For this purpose, a content analysis of the products generated during the course by teachers has been carried out with a cross-sectional and structured methodology, focused on a descriptive-interpretative analysis according to the qualitative paradigm. The results show an increase in xenophobic statements as perceived by teachers. They believe that this is due to the impact of the global phenomenon of migration on the media, which affects everyday conversations, and a climate of fear exacerbated by populist voices in the political sphere. Moreover, through the analysis of the exercises proposed in the real class through the online course, it is interesting to observe the diversity of the students' reactions to a literary exercise that proposes a controversy about the "colonial difference" that still persists today. There is likewise awareness among teachers of a lack of methodological strategies to break down the prejudices and stereotypes that exist in their classrooms. It also highlights the need to raise awareness in the classroom about this danger, which is at the root of the principles of acceptance and multiculturalism on which Europe is founded