Funded by the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal and State Governments

Alexa Meyer-Hamme

Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS)
University of Bremen
Wiener Straße/Celsiusstraße (FVG)
PO Box 33 04 40
28334 Bremen
Germany

Room: M2140

Phone: +49 (0)421 218 66391
Fax: +49 (0)421 218 66353

E-Mail: meyer-hamme(_a_)bigsss.uni-bremen.de

 

Alexa Meyer-Hamme is pursuing a PhD in Social Sciences, specializing in the field of Life-Course and Lifespan Dynamics. She is member of the BIGSSS joint research group "Migration and social inequality: Opportunities for integration between institutions and the life course" funded by the Hans-Boeckler Foundation.

Dissertation Topic

Combating ethnic disparities: the role of leisure time activities at all-day schools in Germany (working title)

Abstract

This PhD-project seeks to explore if and in how far extracurricular activities at German all-day schools benefit disadvantaged migrants in terms of social and cultural capital. Compared to traditional half-day schools, all-day schools are expected to better reduce social and ethnic disparities by integrating students in extracurricular activities and providing them with elements of social and cultural capital that they lack in their (often) unstable family setting and peer group. Nevertheless, there is only little evidence for the normative and compensatory function of all-day schools. Two underlying questions are being addressed in this research: (a) How do all-day schools conceptualize and implement extracurricular activities, in particular with regard to disadvantaged groups (e.g. students with a migration background)? And (b), how do disadvantaged students with a migration background perceive and evaluate the extracurricular offers at all-day schools, especially with regard to their set of social and cultural resources? By this means, this research also aims to better understand the interplay between institutional concepts and the students’ perceived impact. The school’s institutional concepts are grasped by the analysis of mission statements and interviews with the heads of school while the students’ perception is captured by semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of students in the 6th grade.

Academic Supervisors

Research interest

  • Reading literacy research
  • Sociology of education
  • Educational disparities
  • Education and migration
  • Qualitative research methods