Immigrant Students Need More Help in School: Report

Language barrier is a big hurdle that's faced by students with an immigrant background to move forward in school, reveals a report by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that was recently released.

The report titled The Resilience of Students with an Immigration Background: Factors that Shape Well-Being, says that one in four 15-year-old students in OECD and European Union countries was either foreign-born or had a foreign-born parent and that the percentage of students with an immigrant background has grown in the past one decade.

When it comes to academics, many of these students, particularly first-generation immigrant students, tend to underperform, the study said. “On average across OECD countries, around one in two first-generation immigrant students failed to reach baseline academic proficiency in reading, mathematics and science, compared to around one in four students without an immigrant background,” it said.

The study was conducted by analysing data from the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) survey as well as European Social Survey (ESS).

“It is alarming that, if you compare a sample of 100 European students with an immigrant background with a similar group of native students, 15 more students in the immigrant group will fail to attain baseline levels of proficiency in science, reading and maths,” Gabriela Ramos, the OECD chief of staff, said.

The study also found that immigrant students felt a lower sense of belonging at school and higher schoolwork anxiety. However, some felt a higher level of motivation to achieve their best.

“For first-generation immigrant students from Germany, India, Pakistan and Poland, the United Kingdom is the destination country where they have the highest likelihood of being academically resilient,” said the study.

In order to help non-native students succeed, introducing early assessment of language and other skills is important, the study recommended. “Students with an immigrant background should be offered targeted language training. Screening for language proficiency not only informs teachers about individual students’ needs, but also local or regional education authorities, and can be used to help target which schools should receive additional funding, training and support,” it said.