Ethnicities

This article assesses the importance of social class in explaining differentials in the educational achievements of minority ethnic pupils in England and Wales. It is found to be a key factor for all groups. The analysis finds significant differences between ethnic groups even when pupils from the same social class background are compared. When disparities within ethnic groups are examined, however, it is found that the effect of moving one place down the social class structure is similar for all ethnicities. This leads to the conclusion that social class operates in a similar way for all ethnic groups without a specifically `ethnic effect' that mitigates its impact in certain groups.

This article examines high-school completion among key Latino immigration groups in the USA, with a particular focus on the impacts of ethnicity, generation, language proficiencies, family structure and socioeconomic status. Family socioeconomic status has by far the largest impact on high-school completion. Poverty presents a persistent and daunting problem in high-school non-completion in the USA and is a primary contributor to Latino high-school non-completion. Addressing the issue of poverty is particularly important in the case of Mexicans, who make up the largest proportion of the immigrant population and whose levels of high-school completion are significantly lower than those of other groups. This research also highlights the impact of Spanish maintenance on high-school completion and indicates that high-level proficiency in both Spanish and English is associated with a greater likelihood to complete high school than Non-Hispanic whites when controlling for socioeconomic status and other variables. Ultimately, an important message of this research is that the impact of socioeconomic status on high-school completion — a primary mechanism for socioeconomic mobility across generations — must not be understated or overlooked by policymakers who aim to address social mobility across generations of immigrant groups in the USA.

A B S T R AC T Using the German Microcensus, we study second-generation immigrants' educational attainment in Germany, focusing on the descendants of classic labour migrants. Our results show that educational outcomes in terms of attending or completing the highest schooling track leading to the Abitur vary considerably among different ethnic groups. Second-generation young adults, in particular Turks and Italians, experience pronounced disadvantages in comparison to their German peers. The central question in this context is to what extent ethnic stratification in the German school system is related to educational and social background. Our findings suggest that ethnic disadvantages primarily result from social rather than from specific ethnic inequalities, since initial differences in the chances of attaining the Abitur disappear after considering educational and social origin, the only exception being Italian young adults.

A B S T R AC T The aim of this article is to improve current understanding of the educational differences between minority groups in Norway who differ by country of origin. How much of these educational differences can be explained by the traditional explanation of social background? Further, is the effect of social background dependent on ethnic background? These questions are examined through analyses of register data containing information on all persons in Norway born between 1965 and 1981. Second-generation minority groups with Pakistani, Turkish and Indian background are compared with the majority. The conclusion is that social background explains some of the differences in educational outcomes, in particular the relatively low educational attainment of the groups of Turkish and Pakistani background. However, social background provides a less relevant explanation of the relatively high attainment of the group with Indian background and, compared to the majority, social background appears to be less important for educational choices among minority youth.

This study examines ethnic and class inequalities in educational attainment using the 2001 Belgian Census. It analyses the highest qualifications that the 1973 to 1979 birth cohort obtained in 2001. Variation in attainment levels is explained as a function of gender, ethnic and class origins, and other characteristics of the parental household in 1991. Earlier findings of gross ethnic disadvantage, in particular among Turkish and Moroccan youngsters, were largely replicated when ethnicity is identified by ancestry rather than nationality. Looking across ethnic groups, parental resources in 1991 were very powerful predictors of educational attainment in 2001. In order of importance, parental education, accumulated wealth (as measured by ownership and quality of housing), employment and occupational class explain most educational inequality. Ethnic disadvantage is perpetuated from one generation to the next mainly through mechanisms of class disadvantage. In addition, there is evidence of cumulative ethnic and class disadvantage for Turkish and Moroccan minorities. Finally, the largest unexplained ethnic disadvantage is found for the Turkish minority in Flanders. Not only are they most underrepresented in tertiary education, they are also most at risk of school dropout in secondary education.

A B S T R A C T We examine to what extent ethnicity affects academic ability measured in the first year of secondary school and secondary school type in the Netherlands. We focus on second-generation immigrants. The empirical results indicate that academic ability (both in mathematics and language) is not affected by ethnicity, independent of parents' occupation, education, and resources. On a bi-variate level, children of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands are found relatively often in lower tracks in secondary school. This relationship is fully driven by social class and merit, operationalized as including ability and effort. Moreover, children of Turkish, Surinamese and Antillean migrants are, relative to Dutch children from similar backgrounds and merit, more often found in higher tracks in secondary school. However, given the very skewed distribution of educational attainment of immigrants, it is questionable whether `class versus ethnicity models' can accurately compare achievements of native and immigrant children in the Netherlands.

This article explores the educational performance and careers of the children of immigrant families and those of French natives in secondary schooling in France. Using a rich longitudinal dataset (the 1995 Panel of the Ministry of Education), we compare the parents' educational expectations with the school careers of their children. We identify higher educational expectations among immigrant parents than among natives from a similar social background. Although immigrant students begin the collège with a poorer school performance than native students, they tend to shorten this distance with the simple passage of time. Besides, most of this disadvantage is explained by class-related factors. Among the working class, there are few differences in the educational careers of children of immigrants and those of French-born children in upper secondary education. Nonetheless, students from a North African ancestry seem to be less able to materialize their aspirations than the descendants of Portuguese immigrants, and thus express more frequently their dissatisfaction with their orientation in the vocational or technological track.