Executive Summary and Main Findings

• Author: Eurydice (European Education and Culture Executive Agency)
• Pages: 9-28

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND MAIN FINDINGS

Why is the integration of students from migrant backgrounds into schools an

important topic?

A student who is well-integrated into the education system both academically and socially has more

chance of reaching their potential. Students from migrant backgrounds, howeve r, face a number of

challenges in this respec t that can affect their learning and development. According to the academic

research literature, three types of challenges can be distinguished:

1. those related to the migration process (e.g. leaving the home country, having to acquire a new

language, adapting to new rules and routines in schools, etc., and the impact of these

acculturation stressors on migrant students' overall well-being) (Hamilton, 2013);

2. those related to the general socio-economic and political context (e.g. policies affecting the

availability of resources to education systems and schools for promoting integration as well as

policies promoting inclusion and equality more generally) (Sinkkonen & Kyttälä, 2014); and

3. those related to student participation in education, including the limited scope of initial

assessment, which does not always take account of both academic and non-academic

aspects (i.e. social, emotional and health issues); inappropriate grade placement; language

provision that is not adapted to the needs of students with a different mother tongue;

insufficient learning support and a lack of social and emotional support; teachers who are not

trained and/or supported to deal with diversity in the classroom; insufficient home-school

cooperation; and a lack of or inflexibility in funding to provide adequate provision and support

– to name but some (Reakes, 2007; Hamilton, 2013; Nilsson & Axelsson, 2013; Trasberg &

Kond, 2017).

Migrant students are lagging behind their native-born peers in most European education

systems

It therefore does not come as a surprise that overall migrant students underperform and express a

lower sense of well-being in school compared to native-born students in most European countries. As

reported in the OECD's PISA survey of 2015, the proportion of low-achieving migrant students

exceeds that of native-born students in most participating European countries, even when socio-

economic status is controlled for (OECD, 2016).

Similarly, according to the latest Eurostat data (1), the rate of foreign-born students leaving education

and training early is higher than the rate of the native-born population in almost all European countries

for which data is available. Accordingly, tackling migrant students' lower educational outcomes and

their retention in the education system is reported as a main policy challenge in 17 education

systems (2) across Europe.

Primary school students who do not speak the language of instruction at home report a lower

sense of belonging and experience more bullying at school

A secondary analysis of contextual data from the IEA PIRLS 2016 ( 3) and ICCS 2016 (4) surveys

shows that, in primary and lower secondary education in most European countries, there are no

(1) Eurostat, Labour Force Survey [edat_lfse_02] (data extracted in June 2018)

(2) BE nl, CZ, DK, ES, FR, MT, NL, AT, PT, FI, UK-WLS, UK-NIR, CH, LI, NO, RS, the former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia

(3) https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/index.html

(4) https://iccs.iea.nl/home.html

Integrating Students from Migrant Backgrounds into Schools in Europe: National Policies and Measures

10

statistically significant differences between fore ign-born and native-born students' sense of school

belonging and the extent to which students experience bullying behaviours from their peers.

In contrast, some statistically significant differences can be found between primary school students

who speak the language of instruction at home and those who do not. The latter have a lower sense of

belonging to their school, and they report being more frequently bullied by their peers in almost all

European countries participating in PIRLS 2016. At lower secondary level, the differences in school

belonging and experiences of bullying between those who speak the language of instruction at home

and those who do not are smaller and can be seen in fewer countries, according to ICCS 2016 data.

European policy context

The evidence presented above underlines the importance of investing effort into helping children and

young people from migrant backgrounds to become well-integrated into the education system and

through this into society. Without this investment, these children will not reach their full potential. This

concern has always been emphasised at European level, and many EU policy initiatives have been

developed over the years to address the different challenges faced by these students.

The most recent initiatives include the European Commission’s 2016 Action Plan on the integration of

third country nationals (5) and the 2017 Communication on the protection of children in migration (6).

The former document highlights, amongst other things, that education and training is one of the most

powerful tools for integration. The latter document sets out actions to reinforce the protection of all

migrant children at all stages of the process, which include an assessment of the needs of each child

as early as possible upon arrival and access to education without delay and regardless of status.

Building on this, the 2018 Council Recommendation on promoting common values, inclusive

education and the European dimension of teaching (7) stresses the importance of ensuring effective

and equal access to quality inclusive education with the necessary support for all learners, including

those from migrant backgrounds.

About this Eurydice report

This executive summary provides a comprehensive overview of the main findings of the Eurydice

report on 'Integrating Students from Migrant Backgrounds into Schools in Europe: National Policies

and Measures'. The general objective of the report is to support European cooperation related to the

education of migrant students by providing a comparative analysis of the key policies and measures

promoted by top-level education authorities in this area (see Figure 1).

The report starts with a context chapter presenting demographic data on migration in Europe. It also

provides data on migrant students' educational attainment and their sense of well-being in schools. It

is followed by a comparative analysis which is divided into two main parts:

I. A mapping of policies and measures in 42 education systems of the Eurydice Network

covering the following areas: governance; access to education; language, learning and

psycho-social support; and teachers and school heads. This mapping is based on qualitative

data provided by the Eurydice Network on official regulations and recommendations related to

the integration of students from migrant backgrounds into schools in Europe.

(5) https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/proposal-

implementation-package/docs/20160607/communication_action_plan_integration_third-country_nationals_en.pdf

(6) https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-

migration/20170412_communication_on_the_protection_of_children_in_migration_en.pdf

(7) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018H0607(01)&from=EN