Does School Context Reinforce the Educational Inequality of Children of Immigrants in Europe? A Multilevel Analysis of Individual and School Effects

Various national and international studies on school achievements confirmed that immigrant descendants suffer educational disadvantage over native students (cf. OECD 2006). Social background of students has proved to be crucial factor explaining unequal opportunities in education. However, in some national contexts disadvantaged students seem to overcome the socioeconomic barriers and perform better at school, a fact that raised the question about the role of context in school achievements. This article focuses on the institutional factors of school in explaining the discrepancies in educational outcomes between native-born and second generation in six European countries. The aim is to examine the effect of school policy, climate, and sociocultural composition of students on reading and mathematics performance of 15 years old students. I use hierarchical linear modelling as a multilevel analysis technique with the international data of PISA 2009 from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland in order to estimate both, school-level and cross-level effects on the individual students’ test performance. The expected finding is that in all six countries compared the school context does affect the performance of students. The more selective the education system either regarding age, performance and/or sociocultural background of students, the more disadvantaged is the second generation compared to their native-born peers. On the other hand, the schools that responded to the increasing multiculturalism of society and adapted their programme to students’ specific needs are expected to have a positive impact on students’ performance.