The situated and everyday cultivation of transcultural capital in educational and home settings for migrant youth in Scotland

Scholars have identified that many young migrants employ transcultural capital to navigate difference in everyday life. In some cases, this enables migrants to resist social marginalisation, articulate empathy and challenge social hierarchies. This paper focuses on the significance and potential of the school, family and neighbourhood environments in the everyday cultivation of transcultural capital. To do this, we highlight the narratives of young migrants (age 16–18) in their final years of compulsory education, derived from a larger mixed-methods study on educational transitions in Scotland. This paper argues that (1) there is considerable variability between young migrants in the identification, development and mobilisation of transcultural capital and such capital is not to be assumed for migrant young people; (2) the ability to realise transcultural capital as an asset is highly situated in everyday contexts. This paper concludes that in order for transcultural capital to be mobilised, institutional contexts including schools need to have greater awareness of the processes through which transcultural capital can be nurtured for young migrants and a more intentional approach to fostering it.