ETHNIC MINORITIES IN EDUCATION

Ethnic Minorities in Education

Ethnic Minorities in Education

Introduction

Problems in comparing the minority populations' educational situation arise for various reasons. The main difficulties regarding comparability across countries evolve from the fact that in the Member States there are:

  Different types of ethnic minority groups;   Different terms and categories that are used for collecting data on migrants and ethnic minorities in the field of education;   Differences regarding the availability of data; Different educational systems.

Types of Ethnic Minority Groups

Minority groups in the Member States vary in ethnicity, size, and status. Circumstances, how majority and minority populations initially came in contact with each other and the treatment of minority groups in the respective countries differ. Some Member States have a substantial ethnic minority population due to their colonial past (e.g. France, UK, the Netherlands). There, many of the minority members have attained citizenship. In other countries the presence of minorities is mostly due to recruitment of so-called "guest-workers" in the second half of last century (e.g. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden). These countries have significant populations of non-nationals but also of descendants who have acquired citizenship in their new country of residence. Several countries - some of which used to be countries of emigration - experience more recent immigration (e.g. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Ireland).

While the absolute increase of school enrolment of migrants and minorities depends on immigration, some countries with little new immigration still show a relative increase of these groups among the school population, which in part is caused by lower birth rates among the majority populations.

Depending on each country's specific situation, there are also indigenous groups or different national, autochthonous or linguistic minorities that have lived in the respective countries or specific territories for centuries. Thus, among the different types of ethnic minority groups in the Member States are:

  Indigenous groups (e.g. the SE1mi in Finland and Sweden or the Travellers in Ireland);   National, autochthonous or linguistic minorities (e.g. Roma, who live in many countries);   Ethnic minorities from former colonies (e.g. minority groups from North African countries in France or from Asian countries in the UK and the Netherlands);   Labour migrants and descendants (e.g. from Turkey, and former Yugoslavia);   Refugees and asylum-seekers (from various countries depending on regional conflicts and political turmoil);   Repatriated groups or returned migrants (e.g. in Greece or Portugal).

Terms and Categories for Collecting Data

The countries of the European Union use different terms and categories for collecting data on migrants and ethnic minorities in the field of education. These criteria effect how data is collected for educational enrolment or achievement and determine, who receives what kind of services.

Most countries distinguish students according to citizenship or nationality. These countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Spain. Collecting data according to these categories has the result that naturalized citizens or members of the second or third generation with a foreign background, who were granted citizenship at birth, no longer are recorded separately from the countries' majority group. As a consequence, depending on each country's situation, a ...