OECD Review on Migrant Education - Draft handbook for policy makers

OECD Review on Migrant Education

27 October 2009

History and economic factors affecting migrant education policy

• Common pattern: increasing & more mixed migration

• The effect of the crisis on the pattern and implications for migrant education

• Changing immigration policies

• Other contextual factors affecting migrant education

Education outcomes: evidence and policy implication

• Facts about education outcomes of immigrant students

- performance, participation, and access to quality education

• Major factors linked to education outcomes

• Policy implication

Performance – secondary education

• marked performance differences in reading between native and immigrant students at age 15 in many countries

400

450

500

550

600

Score Native students Second-generation immigrant students

First generation immigrant students OECD average performance in reading

Roughly equivalent to one year of schooling

Performance – primary education

• Differences in average reading performance in primary education (less pronounced than those of secondary education)

Native students Second-generation immigrant students

First generation immigrant students International average

400

450

500

550

600

Score

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

• A larger share of 1st-generation with very low reading skills than their native and 2nd-generation peers

Native Second generation First generation

Proficiencylevel 1

• Immigrant students are an academically diverse group: both top performing and low performing immigrant students. BUT

Participation

• 1st-generation immigrants are less likely to attend preschool compared to their native and 2nd-generation immigrant peers.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100% Native students Second generation immigrant students First generation immigrant students

• Immigrant students are more likely to repeat a grade in primary or lower secondary education than native students.

Native students (primary) Native students (secondary)

Immigrant students (primary) Immigrant students (secondary)

05

10152025303540%

• In some countries both native and immigrant students repeat a grade, while in other countries this practice is rare. BUT

• In most OECD countries, immigrant students are more likely to attend schools in big cities than native students.

Access to quality education

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100% Native Second generation immigrants First generation immigrants

• Immigrant students attend schools with higher levels of concentration of immigrant students than their native peers.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Native Second generation immigrants First generation immigrants

• In majority of countries, immigrant students are more likely to attend schools with low average SES than their native peers.

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Index points

Less advantaged school average socio economic composition

More advantaged school average socio economic composition

Native Second generation immigrants First generation immigrants

Major student-level factors• Low SES backgrounds and speaking a different language at home largely

explain the performance gap between the two groups.

Accounting for students' socio - economic backgroundAccounting for students' socio - economic background and language spoken at home

Performance difference in reading

Immigrant students have HIGHER reading score than native students

Immigrant students have LOWER reading score than native students

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

Score point difference

• Additional student factors: availability of educational resources at home, reading at home at a young age, and participating in ECEC

• Schools with low proportions of immigrant students

Major school- /system-level factors

• Schools with students from more advantaged SES backgrounds

• Schools offering more hours of language learning in regular lessons

• Accountability measures

- informing parents of the student performance results against some standards

- making achievement data available in public and tracking the achievement data over time

• Preparing school leaders and teachers for diverse student groups

• Language learning at an early age/more opportunity to learn language in regular school lessons

• Supporting students from low SES backgrounds• Flexible learning opportunities for adult

immigrants• Encouraging family support for their child’s

education• Increasing compensatory education support

outside regular school time• Managing school composition and concentration• Effective use of student performance data

Policy implications

Cross-cutting issues affecting implementation

• Setting clear objectives of migrant education within the broader goals of education system

• Applying lessons from research to policy and practice

• Finding the right balance: universal and targeted measures

• Building capacity and facilitating implementation

Questions to the GNE

• Is the structure clear? Are the most important issues addressed? Is anything missing?

• Can you identify additional national research to add to the discussion of the facts /factors?

• Do you have additional issues affecting implementation of migrant education policies in your country?

Chapter 2: School level policies

• Policies to ensure– Migrant education strategies are well implemented

at the school level – School leaders and teachers are adequately

equipped to meet diverse learner needs

• Key policy challenges– Provide research-based and coherent language

support across the system– Train teachers for diversity– Support school leaders in developing diversity

policies– Support parental and community engagement

• Issues: Inconsistent language support– Little coherence of language support across grade

levels– Lack of focus on academic language – A deficit-oriented approach to language teaching

• Policy options– Develop materials for diagnostic testing – Ensure stimulation at an early age and follow-up at

the primary and secondary level– Provide curricula for consistent language support

across grade levels– Value and validate mother tongue proficiency

Language support

• Issues: Teachers’ awareness & competencies– Teacher inexperience & attrition– Low teacher expectations– Lack of diagnostic competences– Insufficient preparation & training for diversity

• Policy options– Recruit more teachers with a migrant background /

flexible recognition of foreign qualifications– Train teachers for diversity: focus on formative

assessment, differentiated instruction, second language support

Teaching and learning environments

• Issues: Getting the whole school on board– Lack of guidelines and training for school leaders on

diversity issues– Little whole-school coordination in migrant education – Schools often quite isolated from parents, local

communities, other schools and social service providers

• Policy options– Strengthen leadership through guidelines & training– Encourage evaluation of projects & sharing of

successful practice between schools– Support cooperation of schools with their environment

School leadership and whole-school policies

• Issues: Supporting students’ broader environment– SES and migrant background have a strong impact on

student performance in school– Some school systems expect high levels of parental support

with homework and educational choices– Some migrant parents lack the language & educational

background to provide this support

• Policy options– Support immigrant parents and communities to become

involved– Capitalise on parental and community resources– Provide additional learning opportunities where students

can get help with homework

Parental & community involvement

Questions to the GNE

• Is the structure clear? Are the most important issues addressed? Is anything missing?

• Can you identify additional national research to add to the discussion of policy issues?

• Do you have additional examples of promising policy initiatives in your country?

Chapter 3: System level policies

• Policies to ensure– Consistent offer of educational support– At all levels of education

• Key policy challenges– Manage variation in ed. support provision– Develop an effective funding strategy– Monitor and evaluate system capacity– Manage the concentration of immigrant

students in some schools

Managing variations

• Issues: National goals and local reality– Unequal distribution - schools and regions– Immigrant students are heterogeneous

group– Varied commitment among leaders

• Policy options– Establish a legal and financial framework– Find out what works and share this– Provide incentives to improve

Funding strategy

• Issues: Equity and adequacy of funding– Determining target group– Prioritising level of education– Distributing extra funding– Monitoring use of extra funding

• Policy options– Develop funding strategy with clear criteria– Use funding strategically to engage partners– Evaluate use and cost effectiveness

Monitoring and evaluation

• Issues: Feedback on student, school and system performance– Lack of evidence on outcomes for

immigrants– Need to identify effective policies / practices– Lack of tools and training for assessment

• Policy options– Strengthen school capacity in assessment– Centrally monitor quality and equity– Improve data quality and coverage

Concentration

• Issues: Complex relationship with educational experiences– Need for social interaction v. targeted support– School admittance/ system selection policies– Parental choice and (self-) segregation

• Policy options– Improve quality in high-concentration schools– Inform and support parental school choice– Manage school composition with partners

Questions to the GNE

• Is the structure clear? Are the most important issues addressed? Is anything missing?

• Can you identify additional national research to add to the discussion of policy issues?

• Do you have additional examples of promising policy initiatives in your country?