Abstract

In the Netherlands, young immigrants are in a disadvantaged position when it comes to schooling: they are concentrated in the lower segments of education and in general have higher dropout rates than their native counterparts. It is important to note that the school performances and experiences differ between the genders. In general girls outperform boys at school, also among native youngsters, but for immigrant youngsters this difference is more pronounced. How young people access their school life is considered to be different among the genders as well. This study focuses on school satisfaction among young immigrants in secondary vocational education in the Netherlands with an emphasis on gender differences. The results of our study, using a mixed method approach, show that immigrant girls are the most satisfied with their school life. The ethnicity effect fades once socioeconomic background, social capital, and school environment variables are included in the multivariate regression model. School satisfaction was generally explained by social network variables. We found evidence for the immigrant optimism theory; when the parents underline the importance of education, youngsters are more satisfied with their school life and a low educational level of the mother is a motivating factor for youngsters. School satisfaction improves where there is communication with parents about school, and where there are fewer conflicts with teachers. Lower life satisfaction has a negative impact on how immigrant girls adjust to school. Additionally, interviews with teachers revealed that being in school offers immigrant girls a less restricted social space with opportunities for meeting friends.