Comparative analysis of social cohesion skills in Turkish immigrant children of primary school age in Turkey and Switzerland

Abstract

Immigration has social, cultural, political, demographic and economic outcomes that go beyond simply being a movement of changing locations. In particular, negative experiences during the post-immigration process affect the development of children and consequently their social cohesion. The survey reported in this paper was carried out in order to make a comparative analysis of the social cohesion skills of immigrant children of Turkish origin attending primary schools in Turkey and Switzerland. The population of the survey was composed of primary school age children of Turkish origin living in Turkey and Switzerland. The sample consisted (with α = 0.5 and 5% deviation) of 351 children of Turkish origin aged 7 to 11. Of these children, 167 came from families that had immigrated to Turkey from the Balkans and were attending primary schools affiliated to the Directorate of National Education of Bursa Province in Turkey. The remaining 184 were emigrant children of Turkish origin attending schools affiliated to eight of Switzerland’s twenty-six cantons. The Scale of Social Cohesion and Skill (SSCS), which was used for data collection, included the following three factors: (i) social cohesion; (ii) social disharmony; and (iii) limited social cohesion. Data analysis was carried out separately for each factor using graphical analysis and the Mann-Whitney U-Test according to their point average by taking into consideration the factors relevant to the scale. It was concluded that the social cohesion level of primary school age children living in Switzerland is higher than that of corresponding children living in Turkey. It was also determined that the limited social cohesion and social disharmony points of primary school age children living in Turkey are higher than the points of those living in Switzerland. In view of these findings, suggestions are made to the Turkish Ministry of National Education and universities regarding state policy.