ITALIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

The paper addresses the theme of the policies of inclusion of immigrant students in the Italian schooling system. Italy (but also the others countries of the so-called Southern European Welfare Model) – formerly a country of emigration – has only recently begun to experience non-European immigration and ‘integration’ has become a buzzword in political and educational debates. Starting from a critical reading of the concept of integration, with reference to some European models and approaches of the more established migration experience (in the alternative modalities of inclusion including assimilation, differentialism and interculturalism), the paper examines the set of discourses / policies / practices developed in response to the demand for education that students without Italian citizenship are increasingly and differently making. The purpose here is to understand if performed interventions actually help inclusion, that is to say a full and successful participation in education.