In several European countries, it would be reasonable to display a ’Full’ sign on schools, considering that immigration into Europe with record-breaking numbers every year, has already left its imprint not only on crime statistics but on the European educational system as well: the native-born children are gradually being replaced by those of the refugees and migrants coming to Europe.
In many countries, the number of schoolboys and schoolgirls with a migrant background often even exceed the number of pupils who, just like their parents, were born in the country or region.
A study found that 72 schools in the UK have no local students at all, while in another 454 schools local children make up less than 2% of the total number of pupils. The trend suggests that locally born kids may soon find themselves being a minority group in an estimated 25% of British schools.
This is not a single case, as the situation is quite similar in several EU member states, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Nordics.
In Germany, the share of students with a migrant background doubled between 2012 and 2022 (from 13.4% to 25.8%). As well-known, in times of humanitarian crises, Germany has become an important destination country for refugees and asylum-seekers. In 2015, more than 1 million refugees moved to Germany from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries. In addition, since 2021, over 1 million refugees from Ukraine have moved to Germany. As a result of these developments, ’Germany has changed from a nation that saw itself as culturally homogeneous to a society that recognizes the diversity created by immigration.’, a study says. The education system, however, struggles to meet the needs of children and young people from diverse backgrounds. This manifests in forms of unequal treatment and discrimination that impede the effective integration and education of students from different ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious groups. This is particularly true for students from nonacademic, low-socioeconomic status backgrounds, as well as for students from immigrant families: categories that frequently overlap, the author of the study adds.
The fact that schools are particularly overcrowded in the abovementioned European countries results in other problems, such as language barriers and cultural differences, a lack of resources, a shortage of qualified teachers, overburdened teachers and instructors, and involvement of underqualified staff in education. In addition, the safety feeling in schools has also decreased. The famous European quality standards, including those of the education, are also steadily deteriorating as more and more children with a migrant background begin their studies in Europe.
On the other hand, the number of cases of school segregation is increasing, as a serious consequence of all this. (This tendency is further exacerbated by the reaction of local parents who wish to secure their children the best locally accessible education, so they send them to schools where there they will meet less pupils with a migrant background.) In Germany, for example, institutional discrimination manifests itself in inappropriate school career recommendations that teachers make decisions based on prejudices and assumptions about students’ abilities. According to studies, children of immigrant origin are often placed in lower courses or segregated classes, which can limit their educational opportunities and reinforce inequalities.
As for the Netherlands, in the 2022/’23 school year, 49 percent of pupils whose parents were born in another country (i. e. second-generation migrants) were advised to follow the senior general secondary education or pre-university track in their secondary school advice. This share was 38 percent back in 2011/’12. The share increase was the highest among second-generation pupils in year 8 of primary school whose parents were born in Morocco, from 34 percent to 50 percent. According to a research, carried out for the Dutch education ministry, children from minority communities are four times less likely to be recognised as highly gifted than their white peers.
According to OECD studies, Swedish schools also face the same problems as German and Dutch ones due to the fact that Sweden also has become one of the most prominent receiving countries today. This country has been receiving almost 100 000 new immigrants on a long-term or permanent basis each year, in addition, more than 70 000 intra-EU postings are recorded.
The school situation in France is very similar to the one in Germany. An analysis of dynamics in higher education states that international students in France come from the Middle East and North Africa (28%), Europe (25%) and sub-Saharan Africa (25%) while the two most prevalent countries of origin are Morocco and Algeria. The French authorities tried to tackle the influx of high numbers of refugee children with religion-related bans such as banning the hijab in schools.
However, this novelty, that is the practice of banning the wearing a hijab in schools, has showed that this approach cannot be an adequate answer to this problem, as it fails to address the root causes. Neither the wearing nor the hiding of the hijab should not result in bullying and harassment in schools.
Concluding, we are witnessing alarming developments as for the native-born population in Europe. It is clear that unless European leaders take timely action, this trend will become irreversible.
However, the question of what can bring an effective and lasting solution is still an open one.
So, how can we prevent our children being excluded from local schools?
Listening to people’s opinion and paying attention to the shifts in their safety perceptions, for instance, would definitely work. If EU leaders, as well as the governments in the Member States, together with regional and local authorities, kept this old wisdom in mind, there would be a chance to change things for the better. Without a shift in European decision-makers mindset concerning immigration, no further change can take place in education. All-European measures should be taken to tackle these problems. Jointly setting out on a completely new immigration path, may, in the long term, make it possible to halt and even reverse the negative trends affecting the local population of Europe.
Both EU leaders and national governments should remember that the citizens’ satisfaction can lead to a victory when it comes to elections, but if they ignore European citizens’ concerns, including those related to migration, this approach can easily lead to a failure and defeat in elections.
