The Generation In-between: Somali youth and schooling in metropolitan Helsinki

Somali students faced many barriers in their schooling during the period when Finnish society and its institutions were adjusting to a new situation in the face of increasing immigration in the 1990s. This ethnographic account describes how inflexible, monocultural practices challenged the students and threatened their identities in one particular classroom (in the Forest Hill School). Simultaneously, the cohesion of Somali families was under threat by acculturation stressors and, consequently, support and control provided for the younger generation by adults was often limited. The age of students upon their arrival in a host society is claimed to be a critical factor in their school attainment. The sample of Somali youth in the present research is characterized as representing a unique sub-population among immigrant youth: "the generation in-between". This generation of immigrant youth faces specific challenges.