Positive but also negative effects of ethnic diversity in schools on educational performance? An empirical test using cross-national PISA data.

In this inaugural lecture, I will estimate the effects on language skills of two characteristics of school populations: average/share and diversity, both on the ethnic and the sociocultural dimension. I will use the cross-national PISA 206 data, for both 15-year-old native pupils and pupils with an immigrant background. A larger ethnic diversity of schools in secondary education hampers the educational performance of both pupils with an immigrant background and native pupils, but the negative effects are smaller in education systems with little stratification and strongest in highly stratified education systems. The sociocultural diversity of schools does not have an effect on educational performance, but these effects are positive in highly stratified educational systems and negative in hardly stratified systems. However, the average parental educational level of schools is very important for the educational performance of children, and this hardly differs between education systems. A higher share of pupils with an immigrant background in a school hampers educational performance, but if these pupils have the same regional origin (Islamic countries; non-Islamic Asian countries), a higher share of pupils with an immigrant background at that school promotes educational performance. Pupils originating from Islamic countries have substantially lower language scores than equivalent pupils with an immigrant background from other regions. This cannot be explained by the individual socioeconomic backgrounds, school characteristics, or education systems.immigration; educational performance; country of origin; ethnic school diversity; social-economic school diversity; ethnic and social-economic share/average of schools; educational systems

Educational Achievement of Immigrant Children in Western Countries: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects on Mathematical Performance

This paper explores the extent to which macro-level characteristics of destination countries, origin countries and immigrant communities can explain differences in the educational achievement of immigrant children. Using data from the 2003 PISA survey, we performed analyses on the mathematical performance of 7403 pupils with a background of immigration from 35 different origin countries in 13 Western countries of destination. Our cross-classified multilevel analyses show that cross-national and cross-group variance cannot be fully explained by compositional differences. Contextual properties of host countries, origin countries and communities also affect the educational performance of immigrant children. We show that the better educational performance of immigrant children in traditional immigrant receiving countries can be explained by strict immigration laws. We further find that the level of economic development of origin countries negatively affects immigrant children’s educational performance, and that children who have a background in more politically stable countries, perform better at school. Finally, we find that socioeconomic differences between immigrant communities and the native population and relative community size negatively affect immigrant children’s scholastic achievement.immigrant; educational achievement; cross-national comparison; PISA; origin country; destination country

A cross-national analysis of the relations between school choice and effectiveness differences between private-dependent and public schools

We apply propensity score matching to the estimation of differential school effectiveness between the publicly funded private sector and the public one, in a sample of 26 countries. This technique allows us to distinguish between school choice and school effectiveness processes and thus, to account for selectivity issues involved in the comparison of the two. Concerning school choice, we found two patterns: a choice of the upwardly mobile parents for private schools and a preference for segregation by (lower-) middle class parents. As regards school effectiveness, our results indicate that, after controlling for selectivity, a substantial advantage in reading achievement remains among students in publicly funded private schools in ten out of the 26 countries.school choice; school effectiveness; private-dependent and public schools; international comparison; PISA data

Explaining immigrant citizenship status. First and second generation immigrants in fifteen European states

Citizenship acquisition is often seen as a crucial step in the process of integrating immigrants in host societies. This paper analyzes the question why some immigrants are more likely to have acquired destination country citizenship across European states than others and tests legal-formal, socioeconomic, cultural and micro-level explanations. We use a pooled dataset of first and second generation immigrants resident in 15 European states and apply a logistic multilevel analysis to measure country of origin effects, destination country effects, as well as the effects of individual level characteristics. Our analysis shows that second generation and first generation immigrants who arrived more than 20 years ago, immigrants with one parent born in the destination country, retired workers and persons speaking the host country language at home, are more likely to become a citizen of their country of residence. Second generation Muslim immigrants are less likely to have host country citizenship than comparable non-Muslim immigrants of the second generation. Immigrants from former colonies or from poor or political instable countries are more likely to become a citizen of their country of residence. Immigrants are also more likely to have acquired citizenship in destination countries with a low net migration rate and with citizenship laws that make citizenship accessible in comparative perspective.immigration; citizenship; european union; destination; origin

School sector variation on non-cognitive dimensions: are denominational schools different?

Denominational schooling makes up an important part of European educational systems. Given its specificity, denominational schooling can be expected to place a greater weight on values teaching and moral education. As such, it may be more effective in bringing about certain attitudes and opinions. It also may be more successful in creating a warm and caring atmosphere, thus helping students to better emotionally connect to the school community. This paper set out to empirically test some of these hypotheses by making use of three waves of data collected in the framework of the Program for International Student Assessment study. We compare public and publicly supported private (as a proxy to denominational) schools on two dimensions, namely the emotional integration with the rest of the school community, and the concern and feelings of responsibility towards the environment. But for Austria, Belgium and Spain, no evidence could be found that the type of the school has any impact on the reported psychological adaptation to the school. In these three countries, publicly supported private schools tend to be more successful in integrating their students. Also students in public and private dependent schools were equally environment oriented, taking into account several student and school characteristics. The lack of schooling sector differences in attaining non-cognitive aims may have at least three causes. First, ecological issues could be salient enough not to necessitate any special religious or moral reinforcement in order to gain traction. Second, public schools may use religious education or ethics just as fruitfully and consequently, they are just as successful in values and norms transmission. Third, it is possible that schools play a minor role in introducing students to environmental dilemmas and concerns, this role being taken over by the family or the media.public schools; private schools; non-cognitive; value teaching; psychological integration; PISA data

The differences in attitudes about their society between 14 year old pupils with and without an immigration background; a cross-national comparison

In this paper we analyze the attitudes of 14 year old children of first and second generation immigrants and their civic attitudes about (aspects of) the society of destination. We use data from the Civic Education Study conducted by International Educational Association (IAE) in 1999. This Civic Education Study tests civic knowledge, civic attitudes and civic participation of 14 year old students. We have five dependent variables in 11 countries: trust in government related institution positive attitudes towards immigrants, positive attitudes towards one’s nation of residence positive attitudes towards women’s rights and civic participation. 14-year pupils with an immigrant background had stronger positive attitudes towards immigrants, stronger negative attitudes towards women’s political and economic rights, stronger negative attitudes towards the nation of residence and less outspoken lower trust in government related institutions. Second generation pupils do not deviate less than first generation, neither pupils in more inclusive societies differ less.trust; immigrants; 14-year old pupils; cross-national analyses

The Effects of Social and Labour Market Policies of EU-countries on the Socio-Economic Integration of First and Second Generation Immigrants from Different Countries of Origin

In this article, we analyse four different dimensions of socio-economic integration of 1st and 2nd generation immigrants into the labour markets of 13 EU countries and we assess, taking into account a number of individual characteristics, the effects of the countries of origin and the countries of destination on this integration. We find that participation in the labour market, unemployment, occupational status and the chances of reaching the upper middle-class are different, although inter-related, dimensions of the socio-economic integration of immigrants and they work differently for men and women. In the countries of destination, the level of employment protection legislation and the conservative welfare regime affect this integration negatively. Most indicators of national policies aimed at the integration of immigrants have no effects on the socio-economic integration of immigrants. Furthermore, we find a number of origin effects which continue to have an impact on 2nd generation immigrants. Political stability and political freedom in origin countries have positive and negative effects on socio-economic integration. The emigration rate of the origin countries has a negative effect. The higher levels of socio-economic integration amongst immigrants from other EU-countries demonstrates the functioning of the European Union as an integrated labour market .Controlling for individual religious affiliation turns out to be very useful, since we find a number of negative effects of being a Muslim, among both men and women. While individual education is an important predictor of immigrants' labour market outcomes, our findings indicate lower returns on this education in terms of occupational status, indicating a ceiling effect for highly-educated 2nd generation immigrants who cannot translate their qualifications into high-status jobs to the same extent as their native peers.immigration, integration, labour market, European Union, social policy

Effects of residential mobility on the educational opportunity of children in a society with a centralised educational system.

Research in the United States indicates that moving adversely affects children’s school performance No studies have been conducted on this subject in continental Europe yet. Unlike in the United States, most continental European societies have a national school system, which should diminish the educational consequences of moving. The question of this article is therefor “Does changing schools adversely affect the subsequent performance of good students in the Netherlands?” Our data are from the VOCL ’89 cohort, a nationally representative longitudinal cohort of high school students. The results indicate that students in VWO (pre-university) programs are more likely to repeat the year than their counterparts who do not change schools. The discrepancy is greater still in the MAVO (lower general secondary education) programs. MAVO students are more likely to transfer to less competitive programs than their counterparts who do not change schools. They also repeat the year more often. Thus, we found for a continental European society also that changing schools for non-academic reasons adversely affects subsequent school performance.euducational performance; geographic monility; moving of households

Parents' living arrangement and the political and civic attitudes of 13- and 14-year-old children

"This paper focuses on the role of parents' living arrangement in the attitudes of their children toward society. It uses data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study conducted by the International Educational Association in 2009, which surveys the civic attitudes and participation of 13- and 14-year-old students across 38 countries. In this paper, we use only 22 European countries and examine adolescents' attitudes toward trust in civic institutions, positive attitudes toward one's own country, equal rights for all ethnic groups, and positive attitudes toward gender equality. We distinguish between five living arrangements: twoparent families, stepfamilies, single fathers, single mothers who live alone with their children, and single mothers in multi-generational households. The analysis shows strong and significant differences between the civic attitudes of 13- and 14- year-old students living in a two-parent family and those living in other family forms, irrespective of the country, and also after controlling for parental socioeconomic background." (author's abstract)"In diesem Artikel wird darauf fokussiert, welchen Einfluss die elterliche Familienform auf die Einstellungen ihrer Kinder gegenüber der Gesellschaft ausübt. Datengrundlage ist die International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, die 2009 von der International Educational Association durchgeführt wurde und in der in 38 Ländern Daten zu den staatsbürgerlichen Einstellungen und staatsbürgerlichen Aktivitäten 13- und 14-jähriger Schüler(innen) erhoben wurden. Wir beziehen uns in diesem Beitrag nur auf 22 Länder Europas und untersuchen die Einstellungen dieser Heranwachsenden bezüglich ihres Vertrauens in die staatsbürgerlichen Institutionen, im Hinblick auf positive Einstellungen gegenüber dem eigenen Land, zu gleichen Rechten für alle ethnischen Gruppen sowie zur Gleichheit der Geschlechter. Wir unterscheiden zwischen fünf Familienformen: Zwei-Eltern-Familien, Stieffamilien, alleinerziehende Väter, Mütter, die alleine mit ihren Kindern zusammenleben und alleinstehende Mütter, die in Mehrgenerationenhaushalten leben. Die Befunde aus den Analysen zeigen große und signifikante Differenzen in den staatsbürgerlichen Einstellungen zwischen denjenigen 13- und 14- jährigen Schüler(inne)n, die in Zwei-Eltern-Familien leben und denjenigen, die in anderen Familienformen leben, auf. Dies ist unabhängig vom jeweiligen Land. Die Effekte bleiben auch unter Kontrolle des sozio-ökonomischen Hintergrunds der Eltern bestehen." (Autorenreferat

Declining homogamy of Austrian-German nobility in the 20th century? A comparison with the Dutch nobility

'Has the Austrian-German nobility had the same high degree of noble homogamy during the 20th century as the Dutch nobility? Noble homogamy among the Dutch nobility was one of the two main reasons for their 'constant noble advantage' in obtaining elite positions during the 20th century. The Dutch on the one hand and the Austrian-German nobility on the other can be seen as two extreme cases within the European nobility. The Dutch nobility seems to have had a lower degree of noble homogamy during the 20th century than the Austrian-German nobility. However, the analysis shows that this is a consequence of the different composition of the Austrian-German nobility (higher noble titles, more nobility with feudal origins), a more modern concept of nobility among the Dutch nobility (paternal family instead of noble stock of paternal and maternal ancestors) and a successful merger of the feudal and post-feudal Dutch nobility. If one takes these compositional differences between the Austrian, German and Dutch nobility into account, then the Dutch nobility had a higher degree of noble homogamy in the early 20th century, yet their homogamy declined faster during this century than that of the Austrian-German nobility.' (author's abstract)