Migration trajectories and school failure of migrant students and descendents of immigrants in catalonia

Abstract

The rapid growth in the size of the second generation of immigrants and the large-scale enrolment of descendants of international immigrants diversified the ethnic composition of students in schools in Catalonia. In this changing context, this paper first quantifies the volume and intensity of these changes through the creation of typologies of situations derived from the migratory process and the entry of migrant students into the education system. Secondly, it analyzes the impact of migration on school performance of immigrant students. The results show that first generation students have a large number of school dropouts, which can be justified by composition effect. But the school dropouts observed in the second generation are also comparatively higher than those of the native students, which is a concern for the local administration.