De schoolprestaties van immigrantenkinderen in 16 OECD-landen: de invloed van onderwijsstelsels en overige samenlevingskenmerken van zowel herkomst- als bestemmingslanden

Abstract

Using PISA 2006 data, we analyze the science performance of 9279 15-year-old immigrant children, originating from 35 different countries, living in 16 Western countries of destination. Whereas former research has mainly paid attention to the influence of individual-level characteristics on the educational performance of immigrants, this study’s focus is on various types of macro-level characteristics. Using a cross-classified multilevel approach, we examine the impact of both educational systems and political, economic, and religious features of both countries of origin and destination. The results show that the degree of teacher shortage in the countries of destination has a negative, and a longer history of migration in the countries of destination has a positive effect on science performance of immigrant children. Moreover, a comprehensive educational system in the destination countries has a positive influence on immigrant children’s performance, but this is only the case for higher-class children. The compulsory period of education in the origin countries has a positive effect on immigrant children’s science performance. Moreover, whereas immigrant children from countries with an Eastern religious affiliation perform better than comparable immigrants from Christian countries, comparable immigrant children from Islamic countries perform worse than the latter.