Policy Documentation Center

Effective Political Participation of the Small(er) Ethnic Communities in the Local Self-Government in Macedonia: The Impact of the Ohrid Framework Agreement

  
 Ethnic Differences in Education for Urban Youth in an Enlarged 
Europe 
 
An eu-funded research project investigating the impact of 
educational policies on Roma and second-generation migrant youth 
in the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, 
Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom  
 
March  2011
 INTRODUCTION 
Policy context 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Policymakers and experts across Europe have recognised that 
ethnicity plays an increasingly important role in determining the 
career paths and life chances of young people. Despite anti-
discrimination policies and considerable investment in education by 
European welfare states, Roma youths and young people from 
migrant backgrounds today face diminished opportunities for 
meaningful participation in economic, social, and political life. While 
several factors have contributed to this trend, one cannot ignore the 
decisive impact of ethnic differences in schooling.  
 
It seems ethnically differentiated educational practices are 
crucial determinants of social inclusion. In Europe’s case, 
these educational differences are forging inequalities that 
challenge the European Union’s fundamental values and chip 
away at the foundations of social order.  
 
The impact of educational differences among ethnic minorities in 
Europe is illustrated by the experiences of two distinct groups in two 
geographical regions: second-generation immigrants in the Western 
half of the continent and Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. 
Despite great variations in economic development and welfare state 
arrangements in these regions, people affiliated with the two groups 
are confronting similar challenges of ‘minoritisation’ and ‘othering.’  
They tend to experience new and intensive forms of involuntary 
separation, second-class citizenship and exclusion. More often than 
not, they are subjected to a lack of recognition from their earliest 
years. And this holds true regardless of whether the groups in 
question are living in old or new member states of the European 
Union. Clearly, fresh policies are needed to address these issues. 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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 KEY OBSERVATIONS 
 How social and ethnic differences are manifested 
and reinforced in the daily working of schools  
Are European societies 
meeting their obligation to 
provide free compulsory 
education to all children? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What are the ethnic 
implications of tracking? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How does early separation in 
education affect performance 
and future prospects? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The notion of “compulsory education for all” is more an ideal than a 
reality. Sizeable groups of children do not receive even primary 
education. Some formally complete compulsory schooling without 
learning the basics, while others leave school early or drop out prior 
to acquiring any certificates usable on the job market, and some 
others are diverted to the side-tracks of mainstream education. The 
drop-out rates show notable differences among majority and ethnic 
minority students: prior to completing compulsory education, 7-8 per 
cent of majority students consider leaving school, while 22 per cent 
of ‘visible minorities’ are at risk of dropping out. These phenomena 
are heavily loaded with social and ethnic/racial implications:  
 
Evidence shows that children of marginalised groups, 
especially children of poor families of minority ethnic 
background, are most at risk of educational exclusion.  
 
 
Educational systems across Europe have diverse ways for tracking 
students into different areas of study or kinds of professional 
training. While a great amount of attention is paid to the best timing 
for tracking, the ethnic implications are rarely considered. An ethnic 
lens shows that tracking itself matters: it works to the detriment of 
ethnic minority groups everywhere. Vocational tracks attended 
mainly by minority ethnic students often do not provide the skills 
needed to successfully enter the labour market. Tracking hinders 
advancement toward higher education and thereby contributes to 
the worrisome increase in youth unemployment.  
 
 
Minority ethnic students are largely educated amidst segregated 
conditions. This segregation is partially a by-product of the given 
residential conditions: spontaneous processes of “white flight”, local 
educational policies aimed at raising efficiency through inter- and 
intra-school streaming, and attempts by minority ethnic parents to 
protect children from discrimination. Educational segregation often 
concludes in a gradual downgrading of the quality and the content 
of teaching. This results in lowered performance and the 
accumulation of disadvantages in advancement toward the 
secondary and higher levels.  
A clear distinction can also be observed among students who are 
held back and required to repeat school years: 8 per cent of 
students of poor socio-economic background from the majority 
population are required repetition, while this ratio is 22 per cent for 
‘visible minority’ children.  
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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Distribution of students from 
different ethnic backgrounds 
among the types of schools 
by socio-ethnic “profile” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What effects does school 
segregation have on inter-
ethnic relations?  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How do students cope with 
divergent norms in their 
school and home 
environments? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“Top” schools: The proportion of students from ethnic majority 
background is above 80 per cent, and the ratio of disadvantaged 
students remains below 20 per cent. 
Majority schools, dominantly non-poor: The proportion of students 
from ethnic majority background is between 50 and 80 per cent, and 
the ratio of disadvantaged students remains below 50 per cent. 
 
Majority schools, dominantly poor: The proportion of students from 
majority ethnic background is between 50 and 80 per cent, and the 
ratio of disadvantaged students is above 50 per cent. 
 
Ethnic minority schools, dominantly non-poor: The proportion of 
students from minority ethnic backgrounds is above 50 per cent, 
while the ratio of disadvantaged students remains below 50 per 
cent. 
 
Ethnic minority schools, dominantly poor: The proportion of both 
students from minority ethnic and disadvantaged backgrounds is 
above 50 per cent. 
 
Segregation is a key driver of inequality regarding educational 
and vocational opportunities. 
Segregated conditions in education tend to result in early ethnic 
enclosure and isolation. Findings of our research show that, for the 
most part, minority ethnic children have very limited contacts with 
peers from the majority. This way the demarcation lines between 
“them” and “us” are reinforced and learning about each other is 
severely hindered on both sides. Nevertheless, the research shows 
that students from minority ethnic backgrounds perform better and 
feel safer in schools where they experience ethnic diversity among 
their teachers. While students and parents often note that 
segregation in school helps them feel safe and protected, they pay 
a high price for it: inclusion into the practices, routines, and 
institutions of the mainstream society is often blocked simply by 
lacking the knowledge how to proceed (where to turn to for help, 
whom to contact, etc.). Lowered aspirations and limited paths for 
mobility are evident implications. 
 
Minority ethnic students often face contradictions between the 
values, norms, and practices imposed on them by the school and 
those found in their immediate home environment. The strategies to 
overcome these tensions include: 
• open opposition to school (often manifesting itself in truancy, 
drug-use and gang membership)  
• early escape from the family  
• radical withdrawal from all social contacts outside kin-
relations. 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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Do minority ethnic students 
want schooling? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Multicultural vs. colour-blind 
practices 
 
Social alienation induces feelings of insecurity and lowers 
mobility aspiration among ethnic minority youth. 
Despite all the controversies that second generation migrants and 
Roma children face in schools, they seem strongly committed to 
education. They share a conviction that one cannot build up a 
successful adult life without proper schooling. Furthermore, children 
from migrant backgrounds see their own education as the very 
purpose of their parents’ move, and they wish to meet those 
expectations. Against this backdrop, the downgrading experiences 
gained in low-quality segregated schools induce a high degree of 
frustration.  
 
Many children from migrant backgrounds regard the 
downgrading tendency in the educational system as a 
manifestation of institutional discrimination.  
In themselves, educational policies for inclusion are too weak to 
break the vicious circle produced by poverty, residential separation, 
labour market segmentation and the group-specific welfare 
schemes. Schools do make a difference, but both multicultural and 
colour-blind practices have shortcomings. Separating “different” 
children in the name of equal rights out of respect for different 
cultures can actually hinder integration. In Central and Eastern 
Europe, “multicultural” education often means that Roma students 
are selected to attend “special classes.” At the same time, colour-
blind school practices may neglect the special needs that minority 
ethnic or Roma students have with respect to language, reading, 
and other skills. Such practices can result in lower academic 
performance and slower advancement which then serve as 
justification for downward selection at the time of institutional 
tracking. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY-MAKERS 
  
Access to education for  
all children  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reducing risk of  
dropping out  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Comprehensive early 
language programmes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extracurricular activities  
 
 
 
 
Differences in the conditions 
and quality of schooling 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
• Assure that all children on European soil have access to 
education, and that expectations on educational outcomes 
for children with an ethnic background are not lowered.  
• Reach out to children of illegal migrants, unsettled groups, 
and undocumented Roma families who currently face the 
greatest risk of being “forgotten” by education. 
 
• As children of poor immigrant families are at greatest risk of 
dropping out of school, promote measures that decrease 
that risk. These measures should include: 
 
- welfare to assist families in which children are under 
pressure to contribute to family income 
- out-of-school teaching and training programs 
 
• Promote comprehensive early language programmes among 
children from minority ethnic backgrounds.  
• Establish early language programmes in kindergartens and 
pre-schools.  
• Assure that children from minority ethnic backgrounds take 
part in early language programmes long enough to attain 
proficiency in the dominant language of their country of 
residence prior to school enrolment. 
 
• Encourage community-run extracurricular activities to 
address needs for specialisation during early phases of 
education. 
 
• Prioritise desegregation as a focus of European educational 
policy (mixing by ethnic background and social standing). 
• Postpone formalised streaming and tracking  until a later 
phase of compulsory education, and make sure that children 
from minority ethnic backgrounds represent a fair share in all 
specialised formations.  
• Develop more effective mechanisms to attain social and 
ethnic mixing among students at all levels and in all classes.  
• Intensify efforts to reduce differences in the conditions and 
quality of schooling for children from migrant and Roma 
backgrounds.  
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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A multicultural approach to 
teaching 
 
 
 
 
 
 
• Promote multicultural contents and forms of teaching and 
socialisation in order to encourage equal recognition, mutual 
respect and friendly interethnic relations.  
• Extend the notion of multiculturalism toward the school 
personnel and provide incentives to schools management, 
teachers and support staff to cope with the ethnic diversity in 
their schools and classes. 
• Promote ethnic mixing as an aspect of the employment 
policy of the educational institutions. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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 RESEARCH PARAMETERS 
Objectives  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Methodology 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Site selection 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Focus group 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The EDUMIGROM project provided a comprehensive framework for 
understanding variations of ‘minoritisation’ on ethnic grounds in 
schools and the broader educational environment in urban settings. 
The research critically examined how schools operate with respect 
to knowledge distribution and socialisation and how they contribute 
to reducing, maintaining, or deepening inequalities in young 
people’s access to the labour market, education and training. 
Impact of schooling on social, cultural, and political participation was 
also examined. 
 
 
The research employed both quantitative and qualitative 
methodologies and distinguished between five levels of analysis: 
(1) cross-country comparative inquiry; (2) macro-level studies; 
(3) community-level fieldwork; (4) school-level fieldwork; 
(5) investigations on the personal level. 
 
 
Each country analysis involved two multi-ethnic communities with 
relatively high proportions of minority ethnic inhabitants from 
selected backgrounds (Roma and people belonging to ‘visible’ 
minority groups), a wide range of industries and services, a full-
fledged social structure, and a diversity of schools serving young 
adolescents. 
 
 
14-17 year-old youth at the turning point of leaving behind 
compulsory education in multi-ethnic urban communities. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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Qualitative and quantitative 
fieldwork 
 
Fieldwork focused on educational advancement and future 
educational and labour market career aspirations of students; daily 
lives and inter-ethnic relations in schools; identity formation; 
relations between schools and families; relations between schools 
and communities. 
 Quantitative Inquiries 
 
Qualitative Inquiries 
 
Czech Republic Target group: Roma 
21 schools, 918 questionnaires 
Target group: Roma 
57 interviews, 8 focus groups 
 
Denmark Target group: Turkish and Kurdish, Middle 
East/Arab  
7 schools, 392 questionnaires 
Target group: “Immigrants” (Turkish/Kurdish, 
Pakistani, Somali, Middle East/Arab) 
28 interviews, 6 focus groups 
France Target group: Maghreb/African and Turkey 
6 schools, 512 questionnaires 
Target group: Maghreb/African & Turkey  
97 interviews, 8 focus groups 
 
Germany Target group: Turkish/Arab, Polish/Russian  
16 schools,1200 questionnaires 
Target group: Turkish & Lebanese  
52 interviews, 6 focus groups 
Hungary Target group: Roma 
18 schools, 611 questionnaires 
Target group: Roma 
61 interviews; 13 focus groups 
Romania Target group: Roma  
10 schools, 509 questionnaires 
Target group: Roma  
43 interviews, 5 focus groups 
Slovakia Target group: Roma 
20 schools, 502 questionnaires 
Target group: Roma 
95 interviews, 8 focus groups 
Sweden N.A. Target group: “Immigrants” (Africa/Middle-
East/South, South-East Asia/Balkans) 
34 interviews, 9 focus groups 
United Kingdom Target group: Black Caribbean, Pakistani 
3 schools, 434 questionnaires 
Target group: Black Caribbean, Pakistani, 
Gypsy/Traveller 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
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 PROJECT IDENTITY 
 
Coordinator 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Consortium 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EC contact 
 
 
Funding Scheme 
 
 
Duration 
 
 
Budget 
 
 
Website 
 
 
More Information 
 
 
Further reading 
 
Central European University 
Center for Policy Studies (Budapest, Hungary) 
 
• Dr. Violetta Zentai, vzentai@osi.hu 
• Dr. Julia Szalai, szalai.julia@chello.hu 
 
 
• Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic 
• University of Copenhagen, Denmark 
• Victor Segalen University, Bordeaux, France 
• Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany  
• Institute of Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 
Hungary  
• Babes-Bolyai University, Romania 
• Institute for Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia 
• Stockholm University, Sweden 
• University of Leeds, United Kingdom 
 
 
Marc Goffart; e-mail: marc.goffart@ec.europa.eu 
 
 
7th Framework Programme – Socio-economic Sciences and 
Humanities, topic SSH-2007-3.2.1 " Youth and social exclusion" 
 
 
March 2008 – February 2011 (36 months) 
 
 
EU contribution 1.290.000 € 
 
 
www.edumigrom.eu 
 
 
info@edumigrom.eu 
 
 
Policy Briefs 
• How does school segregation shape students’ performance, self-
esteem and future aspirations? (2010) 
• European educational policies for minorities (2009) 
• Ethnic differences in compulsory education (2008) 
Comparative studies 
• 'Visibly Different': Experiences of Second-generation Migrant and 
Roma Youths at School. A comparative study of 
 
 
EUROPEAN POLICY BRIEF 
 
 
10 
10
communities in nine member-states of the European Union 
(2010) 
• Ethnic and Social Differences in Education in a Comparative
Perspective (2010) 
• Comparative Study on Education (2009) 
• Comparative Study on Educational Policies for Inclusion (2009) 
• Comparative Study on Ethnic Relations (2009) 
Community studies 
• Community studies published for nine target countries of
EDUMIGROM (2010) 
Survey studies 
• Survey studies published for eight target countries of
EDUMIGROM (2010) 
Background studies 
• Background studies published on Education and on Ethnic 
Relations for eight target countries of EDUMIGROM (2008) 
Occasional papers 
• Issues of ethnicity as contextualised in contemporary Britain (Ian 
Law; 2010) 
• Ethnicity in France: selected issues (Claire Schiff; 2010) 
 
Publications can be downloaded free of charge from the 
Publications diction of the EDUMIGROM website 
 
 
  
 


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