Policy recommendations that may contribute to better education outcomes of immigrant children

The case of Switzerland (OECD

Economic Surveys 2007)

Migration inflows have been largeper cent of population

The impact of immigration on economic performance in Switzerland have been large

• Between 1982 and 2005, per capita GDP growth was 0.9%.

• 0.5 percentage point is accounted for by the extra labour input provided by immigrants (age composition, labour market participation).

• Evidence suggests there were no large adverse effects of immigration on aggregate productivity growth.

Differences in unemployment rates between natives and immigrants are

large (2003)

Measures to help immigrant children’s education outcomes

• Improve labour market integration of parents.

• Reduce the impact of socio-economic (immigration) background on education outcomes.

Some benefits of raising education outcomes of children with poor socio-

economic background

• Higher educational attainment leads to higher employment and wage levels.

• Higher educational achievement helps reduce the spread of income distribution (reduces unskilled labour).

• A given distribution of income can be achieved with lower efficiency costs that result from redistribution of income.

Immigrant children have lower educational attainment than native

children• Learning outcome differences between

migrant children and natives are more marked than in other OECD countries.

• Foreign children are more likely to be streamed into lower-learning programmes.

• Foreign children are more likely to leave school without an upper secondary degree.

Streaming of pupils in lower secondary education by migration status

Recommendations helping to improve labour market integration of

immigrants• Make cautious use of measures to avoid

social dumping in wages.• Continue to improve the system for

recognising qualifications (for workers from outside the EU), and implement scheme to validate skills acquired through experience.

• Improve incentives to acquire skills in official languages, including through a nation-wide certification system.

Recommendations regarding labour market integration of

immigrants• Remove barriers to mobility within

Switzerland (local differences in requirements for naturalisation).

Recommendations to improve education outcomes of immigrant (and

other) children• Better co-ordinate provision of pre-school

education across local governments. Geographic spill-overs may result in under-funding.

• Step up non-selective educational models in the lower secondary cycle.

• Spain: make child benefits conditional on attendance of secondary school beyond 16 years.