Migration and Adult Education: Time, Place and Power – Polish Migrants in Reykjavik, Iceland

• Published in: Power and Education
• Main Author: Zielińska, Małgorzata
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2013
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/power.2013.5.2.120; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2304/power.2013.5.2.120

Adult education courses for migrants – especially language and citizenship courses – are a controversial issue in Europe. They can be seen as empowering migrants by teaching them necessary skills for social mobility, but whenever introduced by right-wing parties and made obligatory, they can also become a tool whereby states control their new citizens by exercising symbolic power over their lives. This article focuses on Polish adult migrants in Reykjavik, Iceland, their educational needs and their opinions about various forms of adult learning. It is based on a qualitative study – observations and 30 semi-structured interviews with Polish migrants – as well as on a study of adult education courses available in Reykjavik. The results of this study are achieved by analysing adult education, as well as migrants' educational needs, through the prisms of place, time and power.