Kinderen van migranten lopen grotere kans op een arme school terecht te komen volgens onderzoek (en)
Newly arrived migrant children are more likely to face segregation and end up in schools with fewer resources, according to a new study conducted for the European Commission.
This leads to under-performance and a high probability that the children will drop out of school early. The study suggests that Member States should provide targeted educational support for migrant children such as specialist teachers and systematic involvement of parents and communities to improve their integration.
The study examines national policies in support of newly arrived migrant children in 15 countries which have seen significant recent immigration flows: Austria, Belgium (Dutch-speaking community), the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. It finds that Denmark and Sweden have the best model, based on offering targeted support and a reasonable level of autonomy for schools. The other countries tend to focus on only one of these aspects, which means they do not achieve better results in the inclusion of migrant children.
Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: "Every child, from whatever background, deserves a fair chance in education to acquire the skills they need in life and to boost their job prospects. We need to improve our record in Europe on this and provide more support to vulnerable groups. We have to change the ethos which still exists in too many schools. Students who have grown up in the country are the first that need to adapt to migrant children. They should be encouraged to welcome them and we need the support of parents on this. If we fail to act, we risk creating a vicious circle where lack of opportunity leads to poor results in school and a greater likelihood of unemployment and poverty."
The study's analysis highlights the importance of school autonomy and of a holistic approach to educational support for new migrant children; this includes linguistic and academic support, parental and community involvement, and intercultural education. It says schools should avoid segregation as well as early selection of pupils in terms of ability, as this may disadvantage migrant children who are adapting to a new language. The study also underlines the need to improve monitoring and collection of statistics on access, participation and performance of migrant pupils and students.
The study's findings reflect statistics from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests the skills and knowledge of 15 year olds. The OECD found that, in 2010, 25.9% of foreign born pupils in Europe abandoned education or training prematurely compared to 13% of pupils born in the country.
To know more
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-Read the full press release "Migrant children more likely to end up in poor schools, report says" (IP/13/323)