Relaciones y funciones matemáticas

Section 3.1 presented differences in the educational qualifications of Irish and non-Irish adults. This section focuses on differences in achievement for those still in the education system. The education of the children of immigrants, raised and educated in the host country, is considered a benchmark for integration (OECD, 2015). Students who succeed in school are more likely to improve their skills and access better jobs: schools are also arenas for social integration, given that children and young people spend much of their time in school (McGinnity and Darmody, forthcoming).

A body of international research has investigated the educational outcomes of immigrant students, typically finding some educational disadvantage for immigrant students compared to native peers, though this varies across immigrant groups and across countries (Heath et al., 2008; Volante et al., 2018). This section draws on published data from the OECD’s PISA study, an international survey of 15-year-olds that takes place every three years. It is the recommended data source for assessing student achievement because of its international comparability (see Appendix 2).

PISA assesses students’ literacy in reading, Mathematics and Science at age 15. ‘Literacy’ is used to stress the ability to apply knowledge, rather than reproduce facts from the school curriculum.38 _{Fifteen is the target age because this} represents the end of compulsory schooling in many countries. Science was the main focus of the 2015 assessment, though the discussion here focuses on results for English reading and Mathematics, as well as Science, for consistency with previous Integration Monitors and as these are core skills.

In Ireland 167 secondary schools took part in PISA 2015, with 5,741 students completing the assessment. PISA categorises a student as having an ‘immigrant’ background if the student was born in the test country and both parents were born elsewhere, or if the student and parents were born outside the test country (OECD, 2016). Students are considered ‘native’ if they, and at least one parent, were born in the test country. Using this classification, 14.4 per cent of students have an immigrant background, a slightly higher proportion than the average across OECD countries (12.5 per cent) (Shiel et al., 2016). The proportion with an immigrant background in the PISA study in Ireland has also risen significantly since 2003 (3.4 per cent), and even since 2012 (9.6 per cent), the last PISA survey. Previous studies have highlighted how important language spoken in the home is for academic achievement (Barrett et al., 2017; Darmody and Smyth, 2018), so these tables also distinguish immigrant students by language background. Doing so, 85.6 per cent of students are classified as native Irish; 7.3 per cent immigrant with English or Irish spoken at home and 7.1 per cent as immigrant with another language spoken at home. Table 3.3 presents mean achievement scores in English reading, Mathematics and Science for these groups.

Mean English reading scores do not differ between Irish 15-year-olds (525) and immigrant students from an English speaking background (523), but immigrants from a non-English speaking background have significantly lower scores on English reading (500) (Table 3.3). For Mathematics, immigrants from a non-English speaking background also have lower scores (494) than Irish students (506) but the gap is smaller than for English reading and not statistically significant (see Table 3.3). For Science scores, immigrants from English speaking backgrounds actually have higher mean scores than Irish students, though the difference is not significant. Immigrants from non-English speaking backgrounds have lower mean scores in Science than their Irish counterparts but the difference is not significant, as with Mathematics (see Table 3.3).

TABLE 3.3 MEAN SCORES IN ENGLISH READING, MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE BY STUDENTS’ IMMIGRANT AND LANGUAGE BACKGROUND IN IRELAND, PISA 2015

Reading score Mathematics score Science score % of students

Irish 524.7 506.2 505.1 85.6

Immigrant, English

speaking background 522.8 503.4 507.9 7.3

Immigrant, other

language background 499.7* 493.6 492.9 7.1

Source: Shiel et al. (2016). See Appendix Table A6.6.

Note: * significantly different from Irish nationals at the p < .05 level.

TABLE 3.2 SHARE OF NATIONALITY GROUPS DEFINED AS EARLY SCHOOL LEAVERS, Q1 2016 AND Q1 2017 (POOLED)

Share of early school leavers N. Early Leavers (weighted)

Irish 4.9 22,735 Non-Irish 4.8 3,446 UK 5.2 478 EU-West 2.1 277 EU-East 8.8* 2,508 Non-EU 0.9* 183 Total 4.9 26,182

Source: Labour Force Survey Q1 2016 and Q1 2017 (pooled). Eurostat indicator of early school leaving. Note: * significantly different from Irish nationals at the p < .05 level.

3.2

IMMIGRANT CHILDREN IN IRISH SCHOOLS

Section 3.1 presented differences in the educational qualifications of Irish and non-Irish adults. This section focuses on differences in achievement for those still in the education system. The education of the children of immigrants, raised and educated in the host country, is considered a benchmark for integration (OECD, 2015). Students who succeed in school are more likely to improve their skills and access better jobs: schools are also arenas for social integration, given that children and young people spend much of their time in school (McGinnity and Darmody, forthcoming).

A body of international research has investigated the educational outcomes of immigrant students, typically finding some educational disadvantage for immigrant students compared to native peers, though this varies across immigrant groups and across countries (Heath et al., 2008; Volante et al., 2018). This section draws on published data from the OECD’s PISA study, an international survey of 15-year-olds that takes place every three years. It is the recommended data source for assessing student achievement because of its international comparability (see Appendix 2).

PISA assesses students’ literacy in reading, Mathematics and Science at age 15. ‘Literacy’ is used to stress the ability to apply knowledge, rather than reproduce facts from the school curriculum.38 _{Fifteen is the target age because this} represents the end of compulsory schooling in many countries. Science was the main focus of the 2015 assessment, though the discussion here focuses on results for English reading and Mathematics, as well as Science, for consistency with previous Integration Monitors and as these are core skills.

These findings replicate a pattern found in earlier PISA studies for English and Mathematics (McGinnity et al., 2014). It is also consistent with comparisons of verbal and numerical ability from the Growing Up in Ireland study at age 13 (Darmody and Smyth, 2018). Here the authors found significant differences between immigrant origin students and Irish students in English reading but not in Mathematics. Distinguishing by linguistic background, Darmody and Smyth found that students from a non-English speaking background had significantly lower scores than students from an English speaking background, but for Mathematics the pattern is reversed, with slightly but significantly higher scores among non- English speakers (ibid).

Analysing national assessments at primary level, Kavanagh et al. (2016) find mean English reading scores significantly lower for children born outside Ireland, and particularly for those who spoke a language other than English at home. The same is true for Mathematics, though the gap in scores is smaller than for English reading and not statistically significant in sixth class (Kavanagh et al., 2016). In summary, these data indicate that immigrant students from non-English language backgrounds have lower PISA scores in the core skill of reading at age 15 than their Irish counterparts, and this difference is statistically significant. No significant differences between immigrant and Irish students were found for Mathematics or for Science. It is worth noting that the gap between immigrants with different levels of language is greater than the immigrant/non-immigrant gap. This indicates the importance of language competency in shaping educational outcomes. Given the importance of English language fluency for a range of secondary school subjects in Ireland, poor proficiency in English may weaken performance in other subjects too. And as Darmody et al. (2011) point out, overall differences may lead to cumulative disadvantage as students move through the education system.

While achievement scores in standardised tests such as PISA are useful broad indicators, they provide limited information. Performance by students in state examinations is very important given the role of Leaving Certificate exam grades in securing access to higher education and good quality employment. There is currently no information on State examination grades for Irish and immigrant students. Another significant information gap is on the post-school transitions of Irish and immigrant students (Darmody and Smyth, 2018).