Access and transitions in education

Abstract

According to an OECD report (OECD 2008), immigrants and minority groups are, in many cases, less likely than others to participate in early childhood education and care, more likely to be in special education and more likely to drop out or end up in low-status educational tracks and streams. For some visible minority groups, labour market discrimination is sometimes extensive (Wolfe 2001). This may limit employment prospects and may reduce the incentives to obtain qualifications (Conchas 2001). In most countries, immigrant students of first and second generation tend to perform less well than their native counterparts in the PISA assessments of mathematical literacy and problem solving, scientific literacy and reading literacy, while second-generation students tend to outperform first-generation students (PISA 2005). © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.