1

Migrants in the EU: education and training issues

Maria Pia SorvilloEuropean Commission, Directorate General Education and Culture

UNECE-Eurostat Work Session on Migration Statistics Genève, 14 - 16 April 2010

2

• High flow of immigrants from EU and third countries • 10% of pupils with migrant background in many Member

States • Steep and sudden growth: in IE, IT, ES, school pupils

born in another country multiplied by 3-4 since 2000• Education as a key in developing migrants’ potential to

become well-integrated and successful citizens

Background

3

Ensuring • Equal opportunity of access• High level provision• Outcome independent from socio economic

background

Facilitating• More successful social and economic life for individuals• Social stability and cohesion• Economic growth

Equity in education

Commission Green Paper on migration and mobility: challenges and opportunities for EU education systems

• Aims to:– Encourage a debate on the issue – Reflect on what can be done at EU level

• Focuses on: – Individual factors of disadvantage – Systemic factors– Evidence

• A challenge for society: perpetuates exclusion and undermines social cohesion

• A challenge for education systems: – Diversity of languages, cultures and

achievement levels– School segregation– Increasing polarisation derived from "white

flight”• Diversity is a resource, but skills are needed to

use it as such

Underachievement of migrants in education

Individual factors

Low socio-economic background

Family and community expectations

Linguistic difficulties Lack of

role models

Underachievement

Systemic factors

Segregation Teachers’Training /motivation

Ability grouping/Selection Early childhood

educationVaried country

performances

Member States are invited to:

• Developing an integrated policy approach• Setting up/strengthening anti-discrimination mechanisms• Reducing differences in the quality of provision between

schools• Increase access to high quality early childhood education

and care• Improving partnerships with migrant communities and

communication with parents• Providing targeted support for migrants with special needs

• Collecting and analysing data

Council Conclusions on Education of children with migrant background (26 Nov 2009)

Council Conclusions - 2

The Commission is invited to: • Support cooperation and exchange of good

practices among the Member States• Cooperate with international organization working

on related issues

• Monitor the achievement gap between native and migrant learners

Monitoring education

Access

Process

Outcomes

ACCESS

11

Performance in reading (IV grade)

12

Δ ~50

Performance in reading (15 years old)

13

Performance in mathematics (15 years old)

Δ ~50

14

Natives Migrants

Data source: Eurostat (LFS)

Early leavers from e&t by migrant status, 2008 (rates)

Data source: Eurostat (LFS)Natives Migrant

s

15

Data source: Eurostat (LFS)

Low educated young people, 2008(ratio non-natives/natives)

Chart 7 Low educated (less than upper secondary) 24-29 years old by migrant status (ratio non-natives/natives) - 20080,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0

EU27BelgiumBulgaria

CzechDenmarkGermany

EstoniaIreland

GreeceSpain

FranceItaly

CyprusLatvia

LithuaniaLuxembour

HungaryMalta

NetherlandsAustriaPoland

PortugalRomaniaSloveniaSlovakiaFinland

Sw edenUK

Commission working paper: Progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training - Indicators and benchmarks 2009

Migrants and education:

• Special education needs and the issue of language• Key competences • Early leavers from education and training• Adult participation in adult learning

http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc1951_en.htm

Some evidence: the Progress Report 2009

• Significant educational difficulties for migrants – Access– Segregation– Achievements– Educational levels

• Performance gaps (also after controlling for SES)

• In some countries, the second generation performs worse than the first one

Main findings

What do available data lack of….

Completeness

Depth

Width Comparability

• Improve definition of policy needs• Explore existing data sources• Study technical and methodological

improvements to increase data availability and reliability

Next steps

Better monitoring of migrants’ educationIdentification of best practices

More effective policies

Thank you for your attention