Resumen de Teachers attitudes towards students of second generation: Kinds of contact and psychosocial aspects

D. Damigella, Orazio Licciardello, Loretta Eterno

• The significant presence of second-generation ‘immigrants’ is an expression of stable migration dynamics and implicates issues related to integration processes. School plays a crucial role both as a ‘place’ of education and of Social Identity (Tajfel, 1981) definition and re-definition and as a ‘laboratory’ for transformational projects (Lewin, 1935). Inasmuch as the climate underlying human relationships is also a function of foreign students and immigration teachers social representations, it seems interesting to understand this specific issue better.

  This research was conducted to explore the attitudes of a group of teachers towards the migration process and second generation pupils. Specifically, it intends to test the hypothesis that simple contact is not sufficient to produce positive intergroup attitudes (Allport, 1954) . The techniques used are those of classical psychosocial research. In general, the data reveal a positive representational framework regarding immigrants and warm welcoming attitudes towards second-generation students. In particular, ‘direct’ contact does not appear sufficient to produce positive attitudes toward them, the ‘indirect contact’ (Wright et al, 1997, Cameron et al, 2006), empathy and the social representation of the second generation students seem generate more positive effects.