Educational Challenges and Visibility of Vulnerable Groups and Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adolescents: Tackling Social Exclusion

Spanish Landscape: Background And Current State Of Society

In recent decades, Spanish society has witnessed a series of transformations in the political, healthcare, economic, educational, cultural and social setting. Such changes have been heightened by globalization, covid-19, the war between Russia and Ukraine and digital hyper-connectivity. Added to this, as evidenced by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE, 2022), the huge increase in migratory flow in Spain, especially in the region of Andalusia, should also be considered. The protagonists of this movement mainly come from the continents of American, especially from Colombia, and Africa, from countries such as Algeria and Morocco. In all of these cases, such countries are under-developed and/or on the road towards development, with migrants seeking better quality of life in the place of destination.

Nonetheless, the course of these changes has also created new issues and challenges for society. Financial crises, the digital gap and new forms of forming relationships (Murciano-Hueso et al., 2022) and understanding the world, alongside the emergence of new forms of social inequality, as indicated by Lázaro-González (2014) and the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN, 2023), all propose challenges. As a consequence of these events, exclusion of new collectives at risk of social exclusion and, especially, children, has become an invisible reality for a Spanish population that is concerned by new issues in unchartered territory. None of this relieves any of the instability or difficulty of the situation by those who are living it.

Globalization has led to even greater connection between countries and cultures, enabling the exchange of knowledge, customs, ideas and values. In Spain, this reality is reflected in a diverse and dynamic society of native speakers in digital and multicultural terms. The latter alludes to the fact that different cultures coexist on the same piece of land, giving rise to different ways of living (Borge et al., 2022). Nevertheless, there is a long way to go before Spanish society can be considered to be an intercultural society. This is due to the fact that individuals need to feel that they identify with and are valued by their society. As a result of this they strive to relate with individuals who share their culture (religion and language), interests and/or beliefs, playing an essential role in the sense of belonging (Beckman, 2023; Fernández-Menor, 2023).

In Spain, social inequality, in its different guises, has worsened (EAPN, 2023). Turning attention to the Andalusian region, reference can be made to what the Council of Andalusia denotes the ‘Andalusian Regional Strategy for Social Cohesion and Inclusion in Disadvantaged Areas or ARSSCI regions, from hereon (Consejería de Igualdad y Políticas Sociales, 2018). These contexts refer to municipalities and cities in which alarming levels of social exclusion, poverty and/or risk factors for either of these realities are found, leading state institutions to intervene in order to favor inclusion in the population and, in this way, eliminate territoriality as a factor of social exclusion.

Groups covered by this strategy, including vulnerable minors and unaccompanied foreign minors (UFM), newly denominated unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents (from hereon, UMCA) experience additional challenges. Their disadvantaged position in society is born out of factors such as their age, origin, gender, any type of functional diversity that they may present, economic situation, lack of training and, even, illiteracy. This is summed to the lack of adequate resources and support they receive with the aim of meeting their basic needs, oriented as much towards survival and personal growth, as their specific state of vulnerability.