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International Journal of Lifelong Education

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Migration and communities: challenges and opportunities for lifelong

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Shibao Guoa
a
University of Calgary, Canada

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To cite this Article Guo, Shibao(2010) 'Migration and communities: challenges and opportunities for lifelong learning',
International Journal of Lifelong Education, 29: 4, 437 — 447
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 INT. J. OF LIFELONG EDUCATION, VOL. 29, NO. 4 (JULY–AUGUST 2010), 437–447

Migration and communities: challenges and

opportunities for lifelong learning

SHIBAO GUO
International
10.1080/02601370.2010.488806
TLED_A_488806.sgm
0260-1370
Original
Taylor
402010
29
guos@ucalgary.ca
ShibaoGuo
00000JULY-AUGUST
and
&Article
Francis
(print)/1464-519X
Francis
Journal of Lifelong
2010 (online)
Education
University of Calgary, Canada

This commentary article focuses on the theme of migration and communities. It raises a number
of important concerns inherent in the report. The report mistakenly adopts the ‘sameness’
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approach, thus negating Britain’s unprecedented super-diversity that is the result of increas-
ing migration. It wrongly assumes that all migrants are the same and require similar modes of
services and lifelong education programmes. A second issue pertains to the social cohesion
and integration agenda that drives this report, especially its goal of assimilating migrants into
British norms and cultures. Furthermore, the idea of a culturally neutral state and universal
citizenship ignores cultural differences and diversity and perpetuates oppression and
inequality. These flaws turn lifelong learning into an engineering project for manufacturing
Britishness through language lessons and citizenship tests. It is time for Britain to revisit this
report and develop a more inclusive framework that recognises cultural differences and
diversity as positive and desirable assets.

This commentary article focuses on migration and communities—one of the nine

themes in Learning through Life: Inquiry into the future for lifelong learning (Schuller and
Watson 2009). My response falls into four parts:

(1) Britain’s ‘super-diversity’;

(2) the ‘sameness’ approach;
(3) issues of social cohesion and integration; and
(4) the role of ethno-cultural organisations.

Britain’s super-diversity

It is commendable that the inquiry identified migration and communities as one of

the major concerns facing adult and lifelong educators in Britain. But given the
significance of this issue, it is disappointing that migration was dealt within a
sporadic and fragmented way rather than being integrated into all aspects of lifelong

Shibao Guo is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. He is an
affiliated researcher with the Prairie Metropolis Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration,
Integration, and Diversity (MPC). His research interests include citizenship and immigration, lifelong
learning, social justice and equity in education, and comparative and international education. His
recent works have appeared in the Journal of International Migration and Integration, Canadian Journal for
the Study of Adult Education, Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Convergence, and Frontiers of Education in
China. Currently he is the co-president of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education.
Correspondence: 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 Canada. Email: guos@ucalgary.ca

International Journal of Lifelong Education ISSN 0260-1370 print/ISSN 1464-519X online © 2010 Taylor & Francis
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/02601370.2010.488806
 438 SHIBAO GUO

learning in a holistic manner. A closer examination of the report reveals that the
words ‘migrant’ or ‘migration’ do not actually appear until half way through (see
pages 135 and 161). It is true that the issue is touched upon in discussions of related
topics, such as ethnicity and English for speakers of other languages, but in total, the
space occupied in the whole report adds up to no more than a few pages. This causes
me to wonder why so limited a space was allocated to such an important issue. When
I approached the end of the report in disappointment, I found two supplementary
papers entitled Demography and Lifelong Learning (McNair 2009a) and Migration,
Communities and Lifelong Learning (McNair 2009b). These documents identify migra-
tion and the ageing population as two major demographic forces in Britain’s recent
history. The report itself also recognises two major trends, agreeing on the issue of
ageing but substituting society and changing patterns of paid and unpaid work for
migration. Why the omission of migration? Again, the limited attention paid to
migration in the report raises serious questions about the weight carried by this
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theme in the report as a whole.

Because of the report’s inherent weaknesses, it is necessary at this point to
further map the landscape of migration and ethnic diversity in Britain. Vertovec
(2006), an Oxford scholar, coined the term ‘super-diversity’ to describe Britain’s
current level and complexity of migration, which has surpassed anything the coun-
try has previously experienced. According to Vertovec, a number of factors have
shaped Britain’s new patterns of migration. First, the diversity of migrants’ countries
of origin has grown considerably. In the 1950s and 1960s, almost all migrants came
from African-Caribbean and South Asian countries; most source countries were
Britain’s former colonies or Commonwealth countries. Since the beginning of the
1990s, migration patterns have undergone significant change. One of the most
noteworthy features of what Vertovec calls ‘the new migration’ is the diversification
of migrants’ countries of origin. As Vertovec notes, Britain is now home to people
from practically every country in the world. Among the top source countries,
Poland became the largest foreign nationality in 2007, representing 11.9% (around
half a million) of all foreign nationals in the UK (Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development [OECD] 2009). In the same year, Asians accounted
for a quarter of all foreign citizens. Indians were the largest group with 7% of the
total. Secondly, migrants’ destination cities are also being diversified. London, also
referred to the ‘city in one world’, hosts people from some 179 countries. It is esti-
mated that more than 40% of migrants to the UK live in London, accounting for
26% of London’s total population (Jackson 2010). However, the relatively new and
high proportion of migrants also characterises many other places in the UK
(Vertovec 2006). Outside London’s boroughs, migrants also find homes in Leices-
ter, Slough, Forest Heath in Suffolk, Croydon and Luton.
Furthermore, Britain’s super-diversity is also manifested in migrants’ languages
and religious affiliations, Vertovec argues. It is claimed that 300 languages are
spoken in London alone. Some of the largest language groups include Punjabi,
Gujarati, Hindi/Urdu, Bengali and Sylheti, Turkish and Arabic. The religious diver-
sity that migrants have brought to Britain is also well documented, with Christianity
as the main religion, followed by Muslim, Hindus and Sikhs. It is also important to
recognise the heterogeneities within each individual group.
To fully understand migration in the UK, it is important to situate the discussion
in the context of the European Union (EU) because of the social and economic
integration among the member states. Like the UK, many EU countries also face
 MIGRATION AND COMMUNITIES 439

low fertility levels and ageing populations. Hence, international migration has
become the major force behind population growth since the beginning of the
1990s (Eurostat 2009a). Eurostat also reports that in the period 2003–07, almost
50% of the EU’s regions experienced negative natural population change. In
countries such as Austria, the UK and Spain, negative natural change has been
offset by positive net migration. It is estimated that the number of migrants arriv-
ing to live in the UK for at least a year in 2007 was 577,000 (OECD 2009), gaining
237,000 net migrants, up from 191,000 the previous year. In 2008, EU member
states attracted 30.8 million migrants, of which more than one third (11.3 million)
were citizens of another member state (Eurostat 2009b). The second largest group
of six million was from non-EU European countries, followed by people from
African countries (4.7 million) and the Asian continent (3.7 million). The UK was
among the top five countries in receiving them along with Germany, Spain, France
and Italy. It is evident that the UK has been successful in attracting migrants in the
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last decade or so.

This discussion provides important contextual information for us to understand
the magnitude and trends of migration in the UK. This is a crucial first step to help
adult and lifelong educators to adequately assess its implications for lifelong learn-
ing and policy development. Regrettably, this information was not made available to
readers in the report, although it appeared in the supplementary papers.

The sameness approach

A fundamental flaw of the report lies in its ‘sameness’ approach to the issue of
migration and lifelong education. In particular, I am concerned with how interna-
tional migration is lumped together with internal migration. The rationale seems to
be that ‘everyone who moves home has to learn to fit into a new community,
whether the move is a few miles or across continents and cultures’ (McNair 2009b:
16). I am troubled by the fact that the inquiry makes no distinctions with regard to
the adjustment process, which could be totally different depending on how much
change is involved as a result of migration. Based on this misassumption, one of the
recommendations is a welcome entitlement to a free course that applies to internal
and international migrants alike. This is based on still another misassumption that
all migrants share similar learning needs and hence, ‘the educational response may
also be similar’ (McNair 2009b: 16). A free course might help internal migrants
learn about their new communities because ‘most internal migration within Britain
is very local,’ and, in fact, ‘60 per cent of these moves are under 10 kilometres’
(McNair 2009b: 20). However, will this offering be sufficient for migrants from
India or Pakistan who come from different languages, cultures and traditions?
Another recommendation is that international migrants have free access to first-
stage ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes. This appears to
suggest that international migrants are a homogeneous group and that they require
the same assistance. These are complex issues that require further exploration and
contextualisation.
First, it is important to point out that international migrants are not a homoge-
neous group. In illustrating Britain’s super-diversity, we learned that its migrant
population is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of country of origin, language
and religious affiliation. Another dimension of super-diversity pertains to the
 440 SHIBAO GUO

diverse migration channels and migration statuses, which carry quite specific and
legally enforceable entitlements, controls, conditions and limitations (Vertovec
2006). According to Vertovec (2006), international migrants move to Britain in
many forms, primarily under five categories—workers, students, spouses and family
migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and undocumented migrants. Under the
category of workers alone, there are huge variances. For example, foreign nationals
from the European Economic Area (EEA) do not need a visa or permit to work in
the UK, while members from non-EEA countries do.
Another condition attached to non-EEA migrants is that they are admitted to the
UK provided that they do not have recourse to public funds, i.e. they forgo rights to
social housing and benefits. Highly skilled workers are a targeted group of migrants
attracted to the UK to work in finance, business management, information technol-
ogy and medical services. Furthermore, the category of business migrants was
created to encourage entrepreneurs to invest and start businesses in the UK. Other
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workers subsumed under this category include seasonal agricultural workers, work-
ing holidaymakers, domestic workers, au pairs, volunteers and religious instructors.
A stratified system of rights, opportunities, constraints and partial-to-full member-
ship is attached to each category of migrant (Vertovec 2006). Thus, the sameness
approach is neither adequate nor appropriate in addressing the complexity of
migrants’ different statuses and entitlements.
When migrants move to a new country, they are more likely to encounter a series
of barriers that require different responses. Generally speaking, they need assis-
tance with language, employment, education, housing, daycare, health, counsel-
ling, legal and social services (Guo 2010). Reitz (1995) reviewed nearly 400
publications from Australia, Britain, Canada and the USA on aspects of ethno-racial
access, utilisation, and delivery of social services. He concluded that recent immi-
grants very often experience low rates of utilisation of many important social and
health services, despite evidence of significant need and the fact that immigrants
contribute more to the economy through taxation than they use in services. Low
utilisation can be attributed to a number of barriers, including language difficul-
ties, lack of information about services, cultural patterns of help seeking, lack of
cultural sensitivity by service providers, financial barriers and lack of service avail-
ability. In the context of Britain, little has changed since the publication of Reitz’s
work. In fact, recent studies conducted by British researchers identified similar
challenges to those reported by Reitz (Anderson et al. 2007, Spencer et al. 2007,
Jayaweera and Choudhury 2008, Cangiano et al. 2009). In a study of 600 migrants
from Eastern and Central Europe working in Britain’s agriculture, construction,
hospitality and the au pair sector, Spencer et al. (2007) found that recent migrants
work long hours with low pay. Where accommodation is provided as part of their
pay, many are living in poor and overcrowded conditions. Their study also suggests
that migrants have limited access to information, advice and English classes.
Furthermore, they have limited opportunities for leisure activity and social interac-
tion with British people. More importantly, many experience racial and religious
discrimination. In a study with Muslim migrants in Birmingham, Bradford and
Newham, Jayaweera and Choudhury (2008) report that many migrants experience
unfair treatment due to their perceived colour or ethnicity. In particular, Muslim
migrants tend to be discriminated against in accessing employment, housing and
services because of their religious affiliations. It is evident that many of these issues
cannot be solved by free ESOL courses.
 MIGRATION AND COMMUNITIES 441

While many scholars treat the abovementioned barriers as cultural and linguis-
tic problems, others (Henry et al. 2006) attribute them to ideologies of ‘democratic
racism’ and ‘universalism’, which act to undergird the sameness approach. Despite
the fact that British people are committed to democratic principles such as justice,
equality, and fairness, the same people often respond negatively towards efforts
that aim to ameliorate the low status of minority groups. Henry and colleagues
Mattis and Rees call the ideological context in which these two sets of conflicting
values coexist ‘democratic racism’. They also maintain that failure to provide immi-
grants with services that are ‘racially sensitive, culturally appropriate, and linguisti-
cally accessible’ can be attributed to liberal universalism, which assumes that
people are all the same and therefore require similar modes of service and inter-
vention (Henry et al. 2006: 223). Where some mainstream agencies have attempted
to provide more accessible and equitable services by introducing a multicultural
organisational model, changes are often ‘cosmetic’ rather than substantive,
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because ‘the needs and interest of minorities are dealt with on an ad hoc basis
rather than being integrated into the structure, policies, programmes, and prac-
tices of the organisation’ (Henry et al. 2006: 191). As an alternative, ethno-racial
organisations have taken responsibility for providing more effective, responsive,
and equitable services to minority communities (Weinfeld 2000, Guo 2008), a
topic further discussed in the final part of this commentary.
It is generally believed that lifelong learning has an important role to play in help-
ing migrants with their adaptation and transition to a new society. It is also claimed
that lifelong learning is primarily concerned with the well-being and equality of
society. Hence, it has the moral and social responsibility to join other social forces
to help migrants overcome the abovementioned issues. The prerequisite of its
success lies in the jettisoning of the sameness approach and associated doctrines of
democratic racism and liberal universalism.

Issues of social cohesion and integration

A review of the supplementary paper on migration and communities reveals that

the social cohesion and integration agenda drives this inquiry. Social cohesion
refers to ‘the degree to which people feel themselves to be full members of a
community’ (McNair 2009b: 12). In supporting the principles of social cohesion
laid out by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, it is recommended that
lifelong learning should prioritise integration and encourage contribution.
Furthermore, funding should be directed at activities which ‘bring people together
across divides, rather than encouraging ‘separate development’’ and ‘seek to
enable everyone to make a visible contribution to the life of the community’
(McNair 2009b: 57). If we take these recommendations at face value, we may not
take umbrage with them. On the surface they sound very impressive. But if we criti-
cally analyse the reasoning behind them, it becomes clear that they are not as naïve
as they appear to be. Hence, it is necessary to examine the real agenda behind the
social cohesion and integration recommendation.
The adoption of the social cohesion and integration principle can be traced to
the critique of multiculturalism and the ways in which multiculturalism is alleged to
create segregation among communities (Vasta 2007, 2009). According to Vasta, the
UK is currently experiencing a widespread ‘moral panic’ about immigration and
 442 SHIBAO GUO

ethnic and religious diversity: a panic that has led to the questioning of policies that
seek the maintenance of group difference and the formation of ethno-cultural and
religious communities. According to Vasta (2007), the arguments against multicul-
turalism are numerous, including:

Multiculturalism leads to segregation; it leads to welfare dependency; it

prevents immigrants from integrating into the dominant culture and national
identity; by extension, immigrants do not take the responsibility to integrate;
multiculturalism undermines western democratic values; it allows an inflated
‘tolerance’ to cultural and religious difference; it is too focused on cultural
rights of groups rather than on the rights of the individual. (25)

These criticisms led to a shift away from multiculturalism and toward a demand
for social cohesion and integration.
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In the past 50 years, Vasta (2007, 2009) argues, various models of immigrant
settlement and inclusion have emerged, focusing variously on assimilation, integra-
tion and multiculturalism. In the 1950s and 1960s, the UK adopted a policy of assim-
ilation in which ethnic minorities were expected to abandon their previous cultures
and traditions and assimilate into the host culture. According to Vasta, this focus
emphasised the idea of searching for commonalities and the process of becoming
similar through a direction of change. It did not recognise cultural differences or
make any structural adjustment to accommodate ethno-cultural needs. Since then,
the UK has developed a unique mix of inclusion policies, including the race rela-
tions and multiculturalism model, integration strategies and community cohesion.
After 9/11 in the US and 7/7 in the UK, there has been a widespread fear that
multicultural values, and particularly the inclusion of Islamic values, may have a
damaging effect on Western democracy. Hence the return of a dominant national
discourse of assimilation. The current model of social cohesion and integration
emerged from this context of backlash and a desire for cultural homogeneity. Next,
let us further explore what social cohesion and integration entails.
There is no agreed-upon definition of integration. Some argue that integration
falls somewhere between assimilation and multiculturalism while for others it is a
form of assimilation. In principle, integration should be a two-way adjustment
process whereby immigrants and the host society together create a new culture.
Since the principle of assimilation has become increasingly obsolete, many argue
that integration has replaced assimilation as a more acceptable substitute. Although
integration as a two-way process is a much advocated concept in the UK, Vasta (2007,
2009) argues that it never spells out how the white or established communities
should engage. The prevailing idea is that integration is an immigrant issue; only
immigrants are expected to take the responsibility to integrate. A second problem
with this model is that it falls short in providing the necessary resources and rights
to help immigrants to integrate. It appears to have ‘more concern for cultural assim-
ilation than for structural integration and there is often slippage between use of the
two ideas’ (Vasta 2009: 19). In this view, integration endorses a conformity model in
assessing immigrants and a monolithic cultural framework that preaches tolerance
in the abstract but in practice remains intolerant towards cultural specificities
deemed to fall outside the mainstream (Li 2003).
In commenting on social cohesion, Vasta (2007) argues that it can mean differ-
ent things to different people. The current framework of cohesion in the UK has
 MIGRATION AND COMMUNITIES 443

been coupled with integration to encourage people from different groups in all
communities to get on well together. It does not specify, however, how this should
be approached. For Vasta, the current strategy of social cohesion ‘stresses a more
individualist approach—‘getting on well together’ and ‘adapting to one another’,
and rejection of multiculturalism’ (p. 7). A fatal flaw with the current approach is
that it rarely acknowledges the ongoing social inequality and structural barriers
that prevent many immigrant groups from integration and social cohesion. On the
contrary, it blames the victims for their high levels of unemployment and for not
integrating. Vasta also reminds us of leftist critiques of integration and social cohe-
sion that identify in these discourses themes of social order and social control,
themes that bear a striking resemblance to assimilation practices of the past.
Dominant groups remain in a privileged position, able to define the terms and
characteristics of social cohesion.
Vasta maintains that social cohesion and integration cannot be engineered, and
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that these can only be achieved with the development of a sense of belonging,
shared values and trust (Vasta 2007, Hamaz and Vasta 2009). To realise this goal,
Vasta (2007) suggests we expand multiculturalism rather than abandon it. She
suggests four principles that might contribute to the success of multiculturalism:
mutual accommodation, multiculturalism for all, equality of access and outcomes,
and combating racism. First, she points out that the alleged failure of earlier poli-
cies of multiculturalism and integration lies in the lack of mutual accommodation.
She emphasises the importance of a genuine two-way process of integration that
requires a strategy of mutual accommodation involving ‘the adaptation of the
inserted group to existing conditions, as well as a change in the structure of the
larger society and a redefinition of its criteria of cohesion’ (Bauböck 1996, cited in
Vasta 2007: 26). Next, multiculturalism is not just for immigrants; it should belong
to everyone. Multiculturalism is committed to the process of accommodating
difference. It is a philosophy and policy that promotes the acceptance of immigra-
tion and of cultural and religious diversity and challenges the static image of
national identity and cultural homogeneity. This principle undermines the claim
that multiculturalism is segregationist. Furthermore, Vasta suggests equality and
full participation, which introduces new structural strategies and practices to deal
with long-term inequalities facing both new immigrants and the second generation
in the labour market, education, social and health services. She further points out
that equality of access alone is not sufficient; special resources are required to help
immigrants to achieve equal outcomes and statuses. In addition, multiculturalism
and the fight against racism have to go hand in hand. It is widely recognised that
systemic racism promotes the alienation and marginalisation of migrants, the
consequence of which is that members of these groups turn inward for support.
Unfortunately, this inward, defensive move is negatively labelled segregation or
ghettoisation. Vasta emphasises the importance of acknowledging the destructive
effects of racism on immigrants and the development of ameliorative strategies
and policies.

Ethno-cultural organisations

The sameness approach and the social cohesion and integration agenda have led to
the questioning and denigration of ethno-cultural organisations. Because of this, it
 444 SHIBAO GUO

is not surprising to find that the report barely mentions the role of ethno-cultural
organisations in providing social services for immigrants and in promoting lifelong
learning. This goes against a number of empirical studies that have demonstrated
the effectiveness of ethno-cultural organisations in serving ethnic communities—
success that is largely due to the close connection of these bodies to the communi-
ties they serve. More than 20 years ago Jenkins’ (1988) volume Ethnic Associations and
the Welfare State examined the role of ethno-cultural organisations in five countries:
Australia, Israel, the Netherlands, the USA and the UK. It concludes that ethno-
cultural organisations are the ‘best-kept secret’ (275). They play a number of roles
in helping immigrants and ethnic minorities with their adaptation, acting as social
service providers, maintaining ethnic identities, and promoting integration. In addi-
tion, they function as the ‘link’ or ‘broker’ between newcomers and formal service
providers. In some circumstances, they may ‘provide the only decent or nearly
decent help available to some minority groups’ (Cheetham 1988: 147).
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In the UK, ethnic community organisations have for decades formed the back-
bone of the British model of multiculturalism (Vertovec 2006). To meet the chang-
ing needs of Britain’s super-diversity, Vertovec argues that structures and models for
government support for ethno-cultural organisations should be strengthened
rather than weakened.
In a recent Canadian study, Guo (2006) found that ethno-cultural organisations
also play an important role in promoting adult and lifelong education. Guo’s study
focuses on the history and development of an ethno-specific organisation in
Vancouver, the United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society
(SUCCESS). SUCCESS was founded in 1973 in response to the failure of govern-
ment agencies and mainstream organisations to provide accessible social services
for newly arrived Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong. During its initial stage,
the organisation mainly provided basic settlement services and language assistance.
In responding to changing demographics and concomitant community needs,
SUCCESS has become a well-established multi-level service agency, providing a wide
range of professional services and adult education programmes to Chinese and non-
Chinese alike. These include airport reception, language training and settlement
services, employment training and services, small business development and train-
ing, counselling services, and group and community services. Its programmes and
services have helped immigrants ease the process of settlement and adaptation.
More importantly, it has created a home and a community to which immigrants feel
they belong. This study reveals that by providing culturally and linguistically appro-
priate services, SUCCESS has increased the access of Chinese immigrants to settle-
ment services and lifelong education programmes—services to which they were
entitled but deprived of owing to the failure of the state and mainstream social
service agencies. The special programmes and services that SUCCESS provided for
immigrants were not unjust privileges; they were the first step in the process for
immigrants to achieve fairness, justice and equality. As a transitional institution, it
has acted as a stepping stone for immigrants to integrate into mainstream society
and as a mediator between the individual immigrant and the state. The experience
of SUCCESS has shown that ethno-racial organisations could be more effective than
mainstream organisations, because they are more closely connected with and
responsive to ethnic community needs.
Present deliberations over ethno-cultural organisations have gone beyond
programmes and services and extended to debates over citizenship. Traditional
 MIGRATION AND COMMUNITIES 445

liberals advocate a culturally neutral state in which citizens deal fairly with each
other and the state deals equally with all, regardless of how we conceive our ends.
This position is compatible with Rawls’ (1971) notion of ‘justice as fairness,’ which
places the protection of individual rights, along with non-discrimination provisions,
before collective goals. The liberal perspective has been criticised as ‘unrealistic,’
‘unacceptably ‘thin’ and ‘unfair’ because governments cannot be culturally neutral
(Taylor 1994, Tamir 1995, Bloemraad 2000).
Bloemraad maintains that thought experiments concerning an ‘original posi-
tion’ are unrealistic because such a position never existed. Furthermore, they
ignore the critical point that no one is born an atomised, rational actor. Because it
fails to recognise that being part of a community is a primordial good, Bloemraad
continues, the liberal conception of citizenship is unacceptably thin. A person’s
ethnic and cultural heritage must be recognised as part of the individual so as to
encourage the participation of all (Walzer 1982, Bauböck 1996, Parekh 1999).
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Finally, Bloemraad criticises the liberal conception of universal citizenship as

unfair because the neutrality of the state prevents citizens from pursuing certain
legitimate collective goals through their political institutions. The ideal of a cultur-
ally neutral state promotes a notion of universal citizenship that ignores differ-
ences in capacities, cultures and values, and which perpetuates oppression and
inequality (Young 1995). Alternative forms of citizenship such as differentiated citi-
zenship (Young 1995) and multicultural citizenship (Kymlicka 1995) have been
proposed as a means to guarantee group rights and group representation.
Based on the above discussion, it can be predicted that the failure to recognise
ethno-cultural organisations and the denial of necessary recourses and support to
help immigrant and ethnic communities with their adaptation will likely lead to
further alienation, as well as the failure of migrants to identify with the broader soci-
ety and thus to become full members of the community. This goes against the inten-
tion of ‘integration’ rather than facilitating it.

Concluding remarks

Despite its commendable efforts in addressing the impact of migration on lifelong

learning and communities, this commentary raises a number of important questions
about issues inherent in the report. The above discussion has shown that Britain is
experiencing unprecedented super-diversity as a result of migration. Rather than
responding positively to this changing diversity, lifelong learning has been used as a
tool for the assimilation of migrants into British norms and cultures. By adopting
the ‘sameness’ approach and the social cohesion and integration agenda, lifelong
learning has become an engineering project for manufacturing Britishness through
language lessons and citizenship tests. This approach treats cultural diversity as defi-
cit and deficiency, blames the victims for their marginalisation and exclusion and
leaves systemic issues intact. Furthermore, the idea of a culturally neutral state and
universal citizenship negates cultural differences and perpetuates oppression
and inequality. In the age of globalisation, whereby unidirectional migration is
being replaced by circulatory and transnational movements, it is time for Britain to
revisit the recommendations put forward in this report and to develop a more inclu-
sive framework that recognises cultural differences and diversity as positive and
desirable assets, enhances multiple ways of attachments and belongings, and helps
 446 SHIBAO GUO

marginalised groups to overcome systemic barriers and to become fully participat-

ing members of the society.

References

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