Partecipazione e ritardo scolastico dei ragazzi stranieri e d'origine straniera

The full insertion in the world of education constitutes a crucial transition moment to guarantee to the children of immigrants the necessary formation that makes possible the ascending socio-professional mobility that is considered feasible especially during the passage from the first to the second generation of immigrants. The objective of this article is to confront, through the data of the 2001 demographic census, the theme of the participation and apprehension lag of foreign children and children of foreign origins. The analysis that has been carried out has highlighted the articulation, at least by nationality and generation, of an enormously complex reality that needs a specific attention. It has emerged also the need to give attention to the problem of the evasion of compulsory education and, most of all, the dropping out by foreign teenagers from high school formation, which appears to be higher in comparison with Italian teenagers, especially for those who arrived in Italy during their adolescence. Finally, the possible link between the apprehension lag and the dropping out, even if it is still to be verified, should in any case push the Italian school system to wonder about suitable solutions to allow the children of immigrants to have the same opportunity than Italian children.