Intermediaries and the Service-Users Gap in Marginalised Schools

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.