Immigrant children ‘socially segregated’ says global study

It says that the socio-economic make-up of the UK’s schools poses “significant challenges” for immigrant students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Eighty per cent of UK students with an immigrant background attend schools with a high concentration of immigrant students, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) analysis.

This is 12.4 per cent higher than the OECD’s average of 67.6 per cent. It also reveals that 79.8 per cent of “immigrant students with low-educated mothers” who do not have qualifications beyond GCSE level are in disadvantaged schools.

This is a higher proportion than any other OECD country, and greater than the OECD’s average of 55.9 per cent. More than half of “non-immigrant children with low-educated mothers” are in disadvantaged schools – only Canada, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Japan and the Slovak Republic have higher proportions.

“The socio-economic composition of UK schools poses significant challenges for disadvantaged students and students with an immigrant background,” the study says.

The situation is not limited to children with low educated mothers. Some 42.5 per cent of immigrant students born to highly educated mothers – those who have a degree – are in disadvantaged schools.

This is also a higher proportion than any other country examined by the OECD, and almost double the OECD’s average of 26.1 per cent.

All of the figures relate to 2009.