Second generation of immigrant students in Greece and Italy: descrition and perspectives

The purpose of this paper is to describe the socio-cultural situation of second generation immigrant students in two neighbour countries, i.e. Greece and Italy, which have faced the migration phenomenon during the last twenty five years, like most south European countries. The paper attempts: a. to highlight the challenges and needs in order to reinforce second generation immigrant students in their school success; b. to discuss on educational policies that could help second generation immigrant students in the learning domain and in their social mobility. we must take into consideration that the second generation of immigrant students is not a single homogeneous group of young people. This paper explores commonalities and differences in two neighbour countries, i.e. Italy and Greece, in their educational policies, which seem to play significant role on the educational difficulties that the second generation of immigrant students might face during their school attendance, in order to prevent school underachievement and social disadvantage.