November 17, 2015

Migrants do not harm school performance, says OECD report

Higher levels of immigration do not negatively affect educational achievement in host countries, according to a study from the OECD.

Analysis of the OECD’s PISA database shows that once socio-economic factors are taken into account, the effect of higher concentrations of migrants in schools are “practically insignificant”—and that migrant students are more likely to be an asset than a liability.

The study found the OECD member states with highest-performing migrant students are Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Canada, and Australia.

But the report also highlights that migrant students in many OECD countries have a lower “sense of belonging” at school, particularly in countries such as Argentina, Denmark, France, and Mexico. However, in the US and the UK, migrant pupils reported a higher sense of belonging than their non-migrant counterparts.

The report notes that: “the psychological wellbeing of immigrant students is affected not only by differences between their country of origin and country of destination, but also by how well the schools and local communities in their country of destination help them to overcome the myriad obstacles they face in succeeding at school and building a new life.”

Peter Jensen has written for IZA World of Labor about immigrants in the classroom and effects on native children. He finds mixed evidence of small negative effects or no effects, writing that: “the [negative] effects might be remedied by improving immigrant children’s language acquisition and providing general support to all children from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Read more on this story at BBC News. The OECD report Helping Immigrant Students to Succeed at School—and Beyond can be found here.

Related articles:
Immigrants in the classroom and effects on native children by Peter Jensen
Migrants and educational achievement gaps by Horst Entorf

Find more IZA World of Labor articles about education and migration