Schools may not be as equalizing as we thought, according to a study by UPF and Trinity College Dublin
Schools may not be as equalizing as we thought, according to a study by UPF and Trinity College Dublin
For many immigrant families, education is the gateway to a better future. Yet in many Western countries, immigrant children often start school at a disadvantage compared to their native-born peers. Schools are expected to foster integration and equal opportunities, but do they really close these learning gaps or do they reinforce them?
Giampiero Passaretta, a professor of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University and a member of the Research Group on Sociodemography (DemoSoc), and Jan Skopek, of Trinity College Dublin, have examined this issue in a recent study published in Sociology of Education. Their research focuses on Germany, a country with a very diverse student population, and has investigated how schooling affects the learning outcomes of children with different migratory backgrounds: Western countries, the former Soviet Union (USSR), and non-Western countries, such as Turkey.
The new method used has compared children of the same age who had spent different amounts of time at school
To isolate the impact of schooling itself, the study applied a new method called the Differential Exposure Approach (DEA). Rather than simply following students’ progress throughout the school year –a process that can be conditioned by both the school and family environment–, this approach compared children of the same age who had spent different amounts of time at school. This has allowed the authors to accurately establish what portion of their learning was directly attributable to direct exposure at the place of learning.
According to the researchers, the results of their study question the idea that schools act as drivers of integration in two fundamental aspects. First, no immigrant group benefited more from schooling than native-born children. “This means that, although schools contribute to learning, they do not reduce the learning gaps between immigrants and natives”, they explain.
Second, among immigrant groups, the most disadvantaged –children of non-Western origin– least benefited from schooling, while those from the former Soviet Union gained the most. In other words, “schools not only failed to reduce the differences with native students, but also increased the disparities between the immigrant groups themselves”, they assert.
For the authors, these results raise important questions concerning how schools attend to children from diverse backgrounds. “If students from non-Western immigrant families, who often enter the school system at a greater disadvantage, are the ones who least benefit from schooling, this suggests that the education system may not provide them with the support they need to reduce the existing gaps”, they reflect. This issue is particularly relevant, beyond Germany, in countries such as Spain and, more specifically, in Catalonia.
Can these results be extrapolated to the situation of schools in Catalonia?
The recent PISA results have put Catalan schools in the spotlight, after Catalonia was among the Autonomous Communities with the worst results in Spain. This has sparked a debate: do Catalan schools not encourage learning enough, or do the poor results reflect the challenges faced by immigrant students?
Although the study by Passaretta and Skopek does not offer any direct answers for Catalonia, it does provide important perspectives. “The findings in the German context suggest that schools do help students learn, which means that poor outcomes are unlikely to be due to the absence of learning at school. However, our study also shows that immigrant and native-born children benefit from schooling in similar proportions, which means that schools do not necessarily help disadvantaged students catch up”, Giampiero Passaretta reflects.
“Education is often considered to be a great equalizer, but our results suggest that, without specific support, schools may not fulfil this role”
Like Germany, Catalonia has a very diverse immigrant population, with students from different socio-economic backgrounds. “If Catalan schools follow a similar pattern to that of German schools, it could mean that, while some groups of immigrants perform better and others perform worse than natives, schools may not be fully exploiting their potential to help disadvantaged groups bridge this gap”, the UPF researcher argues.
A prior study by the same authors revealed that neither did German schools reduce learning gaps based on socioeconomic background. Their latest findings suggest a similar pattern for immigrant-native disparities: “Schools may not be actively worsening inequalities, but they are not reducing them either. Education is often considered to be a great equalizer, but our results suggest that, without specific support, schools may not fulfil this role. If policymakers want education to boost integration and social mobility, we need to rethink how schools give support to the students who need it most”, Passaretta concludes.
Reference article: Passaretta, J.i Skopek, J. (November 2024). “The Role of Schooling in Equalizing Achievement Disparity by Migrant Background”, Sociology of Education (vol. 98, issue 1)