Sardes - Knowledge of policy and practice

Ethnic and cultural minorities in education

Immigration is a growing phenomenon in European countries and will remain so in the foreseeable future. This means that migrant children will enter European education systems in increasing numbers. To what extent are schools prepared to meet that challenge? What policies exist to smooth the integration of these children into the education system? What practices at school level have proved successful? Questions such as these were addressed by the international project 'Ethnic and cultural minorities in education', which involved the participation of the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia. The project results provide an insight in current policy and practice in addressing the issue of minority children in education.

The project 'Ethnic and cultural minorities in education' looked at educational provisions for children from ethnic minority backgrounds in five European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia. The project shows that, even though all countries have extensive experience in this area, provisions in Central European countries tend to focus on national minority children rather than immigrant pupils. However, it is precisely this latter group that is expected to grow significantly following the enlargement of the European Union. In fact, it can already be seen that in some cases migration movements are affecting the proportional balance between minority groups. For example, between 1953 and 2002 the number of Hungarians in Slovenia shrunk from 11,019 to 6,243, whereas in the same period the number of Albanians rose from 169 to 6,186 (source: Statistical Office of Slovenia). Even though the two groups are now almost equal in size, extensive educational provisions exist for the Hungarian-speaking community, but not for the Albanians, nor, for that matter, for any other recent immigrant group. This example shows that major demographic changes are taking place, with far-reaching consequences for the education system.

The project, commissioned by Cross Agency, was carried out in the period 2000-2002 and involved cooperation between ministry officials of the participating countries and experts from Sardes Educational Services. The project has resulted in three publications that offer an insight into current trends in policy and practice in the education of children from ethnic minority backgrounds:

Information: Kees Broekhof

This site has been modified on 13-03-2012