Immigrants and native families in schools : reconciling trust and diversity

Abstract

This paper explores what the main perceptions of immigrant families are by native families and how these reflect in their trust in public schools. It reviews the existing literature on immigration and the main concepts of trust related to school culture and climate. The research is done in Barcelona and is based on in-depth interviews and focus groups, comparing the discourse of the parents of children in schools in neighborhoods with high and low levels of immigration. The data from the fieldwork indicate that the cultural, social and physical distance perceived by the natives, and the different language and religion of the immigrants constitute the major sources of prejudice and racism. Moreover, in my analysis I have distinguished between two different ways that perceptions on immigration result in distrust in institutions: perceptions that result in distrust within the schools and perceptions that result in distrust in higher level institutions.