Education as a Tool for the Economic Integration of Migrants

Arbeitspapier

We examine the role of education in fostering the economic integration of immigrants. Although immigrants in Europe are – on average – slightly less educated than native individuals, there is a large heterogeneity across countries. We discuss evidence on student performance in international tests showing that children with an immigrant background display worse results than natives. While in some countries, such as Denmark and France, this gap is almost entirely explained by differences in socio-economic background, in others (Finland, Austria, Belgium and Portugal) the factors driving the gap are more complex and have roots also outside socio-economic conditions. We investigate how educational policies in the host count can affect the educational outcomes of immigrants. We focus our attention on pre-school attendance, school tracking, the combination of students and teacher characteristics, and class composition.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 9836

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Education and Research Institutions: General ; Analysis of Education ; Education: Government Policy ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
• Subject: education ; immigration ; European migration policies ; school tracking ; class composition

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): De Paola, Maria ; Brunello, Giorgio
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/141595
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET