A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has highlighted the challenges faced by immigrant students in European schools.
The document highlights a number of challenges, many of which stem from struggles with integration. For immigrant students in European schools, lower economic status and language barriers mean that a much lower percentage are able to achieve baseline academic proficiency.
Specifically, the overall number of native students who achieve baseline academic proficiency across the EU is 72.3%. However, for immigrant students, this figure was just 54.3%, which the report suggests is largely attributable to the challenges of properly integrating.
This difficulty with integration leads to some students feeling like they do not belong at school, with only 58.6% of first generation immigrant students in European schools reporting that they felt a sense of belonging at school compared to almost two thirds of native students.
How can this be addressed?
The OECD report emphasises the importance that education systems, schools and teachers can play in facilitating the integration of immigrant students. This is important because, when given the opportunity to learn skills and when their social well-being is fostered, immigrants are able to make significant contributions to the European economy.
In January, the European Commission – which mandated the OECD report – announced sweeping overhauls of its education policy, to promote social cohesion and understanding between European member states to improve relations and encourage social well-being.
What has the commission said about the report?
European Commissioner for Education, Tibor Navracsics, said that because migration flows are fundamentally changing the demographic makeup of European classrooms, the EU’s education reforms are urgently needed.
He said: “This report shows that we are on the right track when promoting active citizenship, common values and high quality, inclusive education. The European Commission strives to provide everyone in Europe with real opportunities. This is why our first package of measures to build a European Education Area presented in January included a proposal on promoting inclusive education and common values.”
Further, Navracsics added, these efforts are set to continue and expand, to better address the needs of immigrant students in European schools: “I will shortly present a second package of initiatives including proposals to promote quality in early childhood education and care and in language learning. All these initiatives can help pupils and students overcome disadvantages linked to an immigrant background.”
