ABOUT
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Iceland, where I lead the project EADRI – Educational Aspirations and Dropout Risks Among Immigrant Youth: A Study of Iceland in Comparative Perspective, funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Icelandic Research Fund. I also contribute to the ERC-funded project EDUCHANGE, an experimental study that examines educational transitions from lower to upper secondary education and into tertiary education across Iceland, Germany, Denmark and Hungary, and which provides the data basis for EADRI. Before this, I was a research associate at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Duisburg-Essen and at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories in Bamberg.
I obtained my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Leipzig and earned my PhD at the University of Duisburg-Essen. As a sociologist, I use quantitative methods to study the underlying causes of educational inequalities. My research focuses on educational mobility in stratified education systems from both intra- and intergenerational perspectives, with particular attention to educational transitions and the attainment of upwardly mobile students. A key focus of my work is social mobility among children of immigrants and the ways in which their educational trajectories are shaped by structural and family factors.
You can reach me at mkohlmeier@hi.is
PUBLICATIONS
Peer Reviewed
Kohlmeier, M. & Fischer-Neumann, M. (2024): Upward track mobility into academic upper secondary education: effects of challenging parental expectations, immigrant origin, and older siblings on students‘ educational choices. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2024.100892
Kohlmeier, M. (2024): Aiming High: Learning Investments in German Upper Secondary Education. Differences between Immigrant and Non-immigrant Youth. European Educational Research Journal.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041241235988
Kohlmeier, M. (2024): Challenges of Upward Track Mobility into German Upper Secondary Education for Students‘ Academic Self-Concept. European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research.
https://doi.org/10.12973/ejper.7.1.11
Book Chapters
Kohlmeier, M. (2022): Bildungsaufstiege im Erfahrungsraum von Sphären- und Schichtdifferenzen. Eine quantitative Betrachtung der biografischen Herausforderungen von Jugendlichen mit und ohne Einwanderungsgeschichte. In M. Schmitz-Vardar, A. Rumpel, A. Graevskaia, L. Dinnebier (Eds.), Migrationsforschung (inter)disziplinär: Eine anwendungsorientierte Einführung (pp. 181-209). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839460948-009
Kohlmeier, M. (2020): Geflüchtete Kinder und Jugendliche im deutschen Bildungssystem. In A. Schulz, T. Schwertel (Eds.), Der lange Sommer der Flucht – 2015 und die Jahre danach: Diskurse, Reflexionen, Perspektiven (pp. 209-222). Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv153k59d.13
Dissertation
Kohlmeier, M. (2024). Aiming High. Essays on the Challenges of Upward Track Mobility into German Academic Upper Secondary Education.
https://doi.org/10.17185/duepublico/82109
PROJECTS
EADRI – Educational Aspirations and Dropout Risks Among Immigrant Youth: A Study of Iceland in Comparative Perspective
Funding: Postdoctoral Fellowship, Icelandic Research Fund (IRF)
Amount: 44,232,500 ISK (approx. 300,000 EUR)
Iceland has the fastest-growing immigrant population and the highest immigrant employment rate in the OECD, yet immigrant students face significant educational disadvantages. Immigrant students underperform academically and are more likely to leave school after compulsory education or drop out during upper secondary education. However, quantitative research on the educational trajectories of immigrant students in Iceland remains scarce.
EADRI investigates the factors shaping immigrant students’ educational aspirations, perceived challenges, and educational trajectories in Iceland. While the primary focus is on Iceland, the project adopts a cross-country comparative perspective to address a broader European research gap. Although immigrant students often express high educational aspirations, these do not always translate into corresponding outcomes – a phenomenon known as the aspiration-achievement paradox.
The project examines how institutional structures and family dynamics related to intergenerational mobility contribute to this gap between educational aspirations and educational outcomes. By analyzing dropout patterns and structural barriers across educational transitions, EADRI aims to advance understanding of migration-related educational inequalities and inform policies that support immigrant students’ success.
To achieve this, EADRI draws on both register and survey data from the EDUCHANGE project. The countries included in the dataset reflect key differences in European education systems: Germany and Hungary represent early tracking and performance-based systems, while Denmark and Iceland exemplify later tracking and more choice-driven models.