A Green Paper adopted by the Commission on 3 July 2008 opens
the debate on how education policies may better address the
challenges posed by immigration and internal EU mobility flows.
The presence of significant numbers of migrant children has
substantial implications for European education systems.
Key issues are how to prevent the creation of segregated
school settings, so as to improve equity in education; how to
accommodate the increased diversity of mother tongues and
cultural perspectives and build intercultural skills; how to
adapt teaching skills and build bridges with migrant families
and communities.
According to both international and national data, many
migrant children in the European Union suffer from educational
disadvantage in comparison to their native peers: early school
leaving is more common among them and enrolment in higher
education lower. Even more worryingly, in some countries, second
generation migrant pupils show lower school performance than the
first generation. This indicates that the social divide may
deepen over time. At the same time, there are clear signs that
tendencies towards segregation along socio-economic lines
intensify, as socially advantaged parents tend to withdraw their
children from schools with high numbers of migrant pupils.
Disparities between schools are therefore on the rise.
Strategies need to be defined and implemented at the national
or regional levels, but peer learning at the European level may
prove valuable. The Green Paper aims to foster an exchange of
views on how to address these challenges at all levels, and also
to inquire how the EU might in future support Member States in
formulating their education policies in this area. In addition,
it explores the future of the 1977 Directive on the education of
children of workers from other Member States (77/486/EEC), whose
implementation has proved unsatisfactory so far.
Interested parties are invited to make their views known
about:
the policy challenge,
good policy responses to this challenge,
the possible role of the European Union in supporting
Member States,
their views on the future of Directive 77/486/EEC
The consultation on the issues above will be open until 31
December 2008.
Contributions may be sent to:
European Commission
DG Education and Culture
Unit A2
Consultation on Education and Migration
B-1049 Bruxelles
E-mail:
EAC-migrantchildren@ec.europa.eu
The European Commission will analyse the results of this
consultation and publish its conclusions in early 2009. Please
note that contributions and the names of the authors may be
published, unless the authors explicitly refuse their consent to
publication when sending the contribution.
