Germany, which had long denied its role as a country of immigration (Constant et al., 2012), is today, after the US, the second most popular destination country among immigrants (McAuliffe & Triandafyllidou, 2021). Over the past decades, waves of immigration – to Germany in particular, and to Europe more broadly – have presented societies with numerous new challenges. These challenges exist both at the macro level in terms of social and educational policies to meet the needs of a pluralistic society, and at the micro level concerning how to live together in a culturally and linguistically diversified society (Malik, 2015; Vertovec, 2007b). The overlap between integration and education policies is large, and educational institutions are considered an influential context for immigrant families’ adjustment to the host country (OECD, 2017). In particular, the large achievement gaps between children based on their socioeconomic and immigrant backgrounds have highlighted the need for measures to address inequalities in children’s early years of life (Anders et al., 2012; Kluczniok & Mudiappa, 2019). Accordingly, in recent years, preschools and primary schools have become a greater focus of research and policy. However, it is questionable to what extent these institutions provide an inclusive environment and quality education to children who experience disadvantages due to their social and migration backgrounds. Immigrant parents can provide valuable insight into their children’s formal learning environment in the early years. However, there are limited studies that give immigrant parents a voice and portray their everyday realities. Despite the fact that immigrant parents have high educational aspirations for their children (B. Becker & Gresch, 2016), they experience acculturation stress in the host country, including their children’s schools, due to language and cultural barriers (Jäkel & Leyendecker, 2008; Norheim & Moser, 2020). Moreover, they have been observed to have a desire for their children to develop bicultural competencies in relation to both their heritage and their host countries (Uttal & Han, 2011). Accordingly, immigrant parents have particular identity-related concerns about their children, which affect their beliefs and practices in childrearing. However, we know little about how the characteristics of different contexts influence parents’ social identities and how their social identities shape those contexts. The educational sciences have only recently recognized the relevance of spatial theories in considering issues of identity and inequality (Ferrare & Apple, 2010; Gulson & Symes, 2007a), and there are few empirical studies that apply a socio-spatial theoretical framework. Further, research on immigrant families has not adequately illustrated the relationships between different contexts and usually focuses on only one particular context, such as the home learning environment and school. The study of socio-spatial relations has been mainly limited to the home–school relationship. The linkages between these and broader societal micro and macro contexts that may interact with immigrant parents’ social identities have not been adequately explored. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on this topic and addresses the Turkish-origin community in Germany, the largest immigrant group in the country (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2022). In particular, it examines how Turkish-origin parents of preschool- and primary school-aged children (re-)construct their social identities within home–school–society relational spaces. The dissertation consists of four sub-studies based on the qualitative and quantitative interview data collected within the framework of the Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society (ISOTIS) project. The quantitative data comprise survey responses from Turkish parents (n = 338) with children aged 3–6 (before primary school) or aged 8–12 (in primary school). The qualitative interview study subjects were drawn from a subsample of the quantitative survey respondents and consisted of 22 mothers. The qualitative data were analyzed utilizing content analysis and included in all four studies of this dissertation. Additionally, Study 4 used a mixed methods design, and content analysis of the qualitative data was used to provide possible explanations for the results of the quantitative data, which were analyzed using (multi-group) regression analysis. Study 1 examined how mothers perceive socio-spatial school and residential segregation and how they relate this issue to the quality of their children’s education. The results showed that mothers living in neighborhoods with high immigrant populations were largely dissatisfied with the quality of their children’s education. Respondents’ concerns about their children being marginalized in a native-dense environment, as well as concerns about their children’s ethnic identity in the context of their potential ‘Germanization,’ were cited as reasons for choosing an immigrant-dense or ethnically and socially diverse school and neighborhood. Despite the fact that some respondents complained about segregation tendencies on the part of the native population, the data showed that middle-class Turkish families, in particular, use similar strategies to raise their children in native-dense environments, even though they ascribe a high value to social diversity. The perceived high educational quality of schools in these neighborhoods was also identified as an influential factor. Moreover, the results indicated not only segregation between schools but also within schools, i.e., the creation of separate classroom groups in primary schools for children from native and/or middle-class families. Study 2 investigated mothers’ perceptions and experiences related to their language use at the intersection of their ethnocultural identities in home–school–society relational spaces. The results showed that the respondents’ linguistic competencies and the value they place on the German language, and their heritage language coincide extensively with their ethnocultural identities, which are mirrored in their ethnolinguistic upbringing beliefs and practices. Parents reported how language barriers affected their parenting (e.g., parental involvement, parent–child relationship) as well as their sense of belonging to the host country (e.g., everyday discrimination) and emphasized experiencing parental stress. Some parents also pointed out that while they did not face a language barrier, symbolic boundaries between them and the native population persisted (e.g., the misconception that women wearing headscarves have little knowledge of German). Regardless of their own German language skills, the parents placed great importance on their children’s German language development, which they saw as a source of success in the host country. Parents were particularly inclined to raise their children bilingually because they viewed their heritage language as an important resource for developing their children’s heritage ethnocultural identity and for enhancing the quality of parent–child interactions. Yet dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in school and society toward their heritage language, as well as the extent to which their linguistic support needs were recognized, appeared to be critical in influencing their social identities in the host country and thus their parenting within the home space. Study 3 addressed the ethnoreligious identities of immigrant mothers within home–school–society relational spaces. The findings showed that parents’ ethnoreligious identities make the home space religiously congruent with or separated from the school and societal space. Their desire to integrate into German society and to ensure that their children received high-quality education and were not marginalized in a non-family environment motivated parents to create congruent spaces (e.g., celebrating Christian festivals at home, parental involvement in Christian celebrations at school, enrolling their children in a church-run preschool). Conversely, some respondents chose contextually separate parenting approaches as a way to maintain their children’s strong religious affiliation. In addition, narratives showed that inclusive (e.g., teachers collaborating with minority parents on their religious celebrations, using interreligious pedagogical practices) and exclusive (e.g., teachers’ cultural prejudice, the perception that some preschools refused to enroll minority children) approaches in schools appeared to be closely linked to the societal space in terms of attitudes toward religious minorities. These spaces seemed to reproduce each other, influencing the ethnoreligious identities of the parents that were reflected in the home space. Thus, they also influenced parents’ beliefs and practices with regard to ethnoreligious upbringing. Finally, Study 4 was conducted to identify the relationship between Turkish immigrant parents’ perception of their children’s school climate and their life satisfaction in Germany. In addition, how this relationship varies depending on the immigrant generation of the parents (first vs. second generation) and the school level of their children (preschool vs. primary school) was investigated. Applying a mixed methods research in Study 4, an explanatory sequential design was used. Thereby, the qualitative interviews were used to further interpret the quantitative research findings. The results of the quantitative survey revealed that life satisfaction in Germany was predicted by the way parents perceived the children’s school climate. While the relationship was significant for both generations, it was stronger for second-generation parents. Further, the relationship was significant only for parents with children attending primary school. The qualitative research findings suggested that there was a high degree of overlap between perceived inequalities in school and in society. These included the sense of injustice (particularly in primary schools), the extent to which an inclusive school climate has been created, and the collaboration of schools with immigrant parents. In conjunction with the quantitative research findings on life satisfaction among Turkish families, this could potentially have implications for immigrant parents. Taken together, the present dissertation highlights the significance of socio-spatial relational theory approaches, which have been largely overlooked in educational sciences, and emphasizes such approaches’ power in portraying immigrant parents’ social identities. Accordingly, this dissertation seeks to contribute theoretical developments, as well as further concrete empirical research, for the exploration of the complex perceptions and experiences of immigrant families within and across various contexts. Moreover, it provides valuable insights for the inclusive pedagogical approaches in preschools and primary schools, as well as educational and social policies aiming to create inclusive environments in their societies.
