Imagining Educational Futures Through Friendship: Shaping Migrant Girls’ Belonging and Success

• In Event: Gender, Race, and Movement: Multi-age Youth Crossing Borders and Divides

Abstract

This study explores how friendships shape the academic and social trajectories of migrant and ethnic minority girls, highlighting the importance of intersectionality across gender, ethnicity, and social context. Drawing on 60 qualitative interviews conducted in Spain, it examines the formation of intra- and interethnic friendships within educational and community settings considering other intersecting factors. Findings show that friendships provide vital emotional support, resilience, and academic collaboration, helping to counteract discrimination and exclusion. Schools are central sites for friendship, but community spaces often offer safer, affirming environments. By understanding friendship as a flexible, non-institutionalized social form, this research envisions future education that foster inclusion, belonging, and equity, promoting well-being and social integration in multicultural societies.

Authors

• Rocio Garcia-Carrion, University of Deusto

• Carme Garcia Yeste, Universitat Rovira i Virgili

• Maria Padrós Cuxart, Universitat de Barcelona