Intermediaries and the Service-Users Gap in Marginalised Schools
Politecnico di Milano
How they used Delve
Researchers at Politecnico di Milano used Delve to code 31 semi-structured interviews with schools, NGOs and community organisations in Milan's San Siro neighbourhood, running a descriptive first cycle and then analytical pattern coding into categories and subcodes, to map how intermediaries fill the gap between public school services and immigrant families.
“Data analysis of semi-structured interviews followed an inductive two-step process, involving first descriptive and then analytical coding on Delve qualitative analysis software (Saldaña 2016).”
- Field
- Urban studies / local welfare and public service design for immigrant families
- Data
- 31 semi-structured interviews in the San Siro neighbourhood of Milan: 4 primary schools, 3 middle schools, 15 local actors offering school-services orientation and family assistance, and 9 offering supplementary school services
- Approach
- Action-research project (citta-IN); inductive two-step coding of semi-structured interviews, a first descriptive cycle producing macro-categories through thematic analysis and a second analytical cycle of pattern coding into broader categories and subcodes (Saldana 2016; Miles et al. 2013)
- Data types
- Interviews
Abstract
This chapter examines the entire school services ecosystem and explores the roles of public service providers and intermediary actors in facilitating or hindering immigrant families’ empowerment. By focusing on the San Siro neighbourhood in Milan, we highlight the practices of support and the educational offers put in place by the “local welfare” in marginalised urban contexts. Drawing on 31 in-depth interviews, we provide an overview of the various local strategies that address the interdependent access barriers and multiple disadvantages affecting immigrant families. Specific attention is given to the supplementary school services offered by the Municipality of Milan and by local intermediaries, which are compared in terms of service delivery and enabling capacity. We therefore identify the dual role of intermediaries: both filling the institutional gap and leading marginalised users towards informed, autonomous access to services. This chapter concludes by advocating the adoption of the Mediation Grammar testing methodology as an essential framework to foster inclusive and intersectional approaches within public service providers.
Citation
Giada Casarin, Maryam Karimi (2026). Intermediaries and the Service-Users Gap in Marginalised Schools. SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-33964-5_4