The educational integration of migrants : what is the role of sending society actors and is there a transnational educational field?

Abstract

It is well documented that in most European countries migrants have lower educational attainment levels than natives. Access to education for migrant children is almost universally guaranteed in the EU, but this does not automatically equate to access to adapted education, taking into account specific needs linked to socio-economic disadvantages and linguistic challenges. Furthermore, social and ethnic school segregation constitutes a serious barrier towards access to good education for migrant children. Sending society actors seem to have only a limited impact on the educational integration of migrant children in destination countries, but initiatives like diaspora schools constitute one strategy to try and improve the educational outcomes of migrant children. The scientific literature has only given limited space to the potential role played by sending society actors for access to good education for migrant children. The Interact-project should aim to cover this field and assess whether the role played by sending society actors has not unjustly been overlooked.