Pisa results show immigrant-background pupils lag behind

Nearly half of pupils with an immigrant background perform at a low level in reading, mathematics and science, according to the latest Pisa study, prompting Denmark’s municipalities to hold an emergency meeting on school results, DR reported.

The meeting brings together all of Denmark’s municipalities after historically poor Pisa results were published last week. Several municipalities and school leaders say pupils with an immigrant background should be a key focus because they perform significantly worse than pupils without such a background.

Kurt Scheelsbeck, chair of the Institutions and Schools Committee in Høje-Taastrup Municipality, said municipalities with a high proportion of children from immigrant backgrounds should be prioritised when additional resources are allocated. Nearly 37 percent of children aged 0 to 17 in Høje-Taastrup are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, according to Statistics Denmark.

“We are at a disadvantage when we have so many children with another ethnic background, and it would therefore be sensible to support us in making this work. The whole of Denmark has a strong interest in that,” Scheelsbeck said.

About half perform at a low level

The Pisa study shows that pupils both with and without an immigrant background have become less proficient in mathematics, reading and science. However, pupils with an immigrant background were already performing at a lower level, and about half are now classified as low-performing, said Louise Beuchert, a senior researcher at Vive, the research centre behind Denmark’s Pisa study.

“There are many pupils, which means that schools and classrooms can have a large number of pupils with a low academic level. That can make teaching difficult, as well as making things difficult for the pupils themselves,” Beuchert said.

Low performance means, for example, that pupils may struggle to use the mathematics they learn in everyday life. They may have difficulty understanding how to calculate 20 percent of a figure they see in a supermarket.

According to Vive, about 40 percent of the difference between pupils with and without an immigrant background can be explained by the fact that pupils with an immigrant background typically come from families where parents have lower levels of education and income.

Some 12.3 percent of school pupils in Denmark have an immigrant background. Of these, 7.3 percent are descendants of immigrants and 4.9 percent are first-generation immigrants. Their countries of origin include Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Somalia, while others have backgrounds in Ukraine and other European countries.

Schools need more resources

School leaders also experience challenges when schools have many bilingual pupils, said Kristian Dissing Olesen, deputy chair of the School Leaders’ Association.

“When we talk about more resources for primary and lower-secondary schools, we need to make sure they reach the places with the greatest challenges and provide the strongest possible support there,” he said.

When children mainly speak another language than Danish with their families, teachers and pedagogues need additional resources to strengthen skills such as reading and writing in Danish, he said.

Some schools succeed by involving all parents in the school’s work, Dissing Olesen said. This can require a particular effort when pupils have an immigrant background. Schools must also be clearer about what they expect from parents, he said, adding that “school is a community”.

Flexible schools are costly

In Brøndby Municipality, 36 percent of children aged 0 to 17 are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, according to Statistics Denmark. Mayor Maja Højgaard said children with an immigrant background often struggle particularly with Danish when they start school, while parents do not always support the school.

Parents are therefore crucial to the municipality’s ability to help the children, she said.

“If we want a good primary and lower-secondary school that breaks the cycle of social disadvantage and gives children better opportunities, it is important to talk more about what is happening in school today than about what happened at home in the Middle East,” Højgaard said.

She said a flexible school with different professional skills and initiatives is expensive, but necessary to help break the cycle of social disadvantage and create a cohesive society.