AMPA como asociaciones intermediarias : una aproximación a la relación entre familias inmigradas, participación y éxito escolar

The institutional crisis involving the weakness of democracy and the need for a regeneration of trust has generated new models of citizenship aimed to develop community resources in the form of social and cultural capital. In this context, migrant families appear as central actors to improve academic achievement through their involvement in schools. At the same time, this idea has become paramount to explain the limited academic success of immigrant pupils and the persistent academic gaps compared with non-immigrant pupils. This paper presents a summary of the results of a Project carried out by the author on behalf of the Catalan Federation of Parents' Associations (FaPaC), where we identify PAs as a specific and privileged case of family-school relations. The Project intended to asses the potential role Pas could play as intermediary organizations enhancing social integration and analyze the degree of the relation between the social problem constructed - migrant families' lack of participation as an explanation for the lower school performance of their children - and the institutional projects that should be expected in the Catalan context among PAs.