How Education System and Schooling Affect Immigrant Turkish Families’ Children on Their Achievement: Comparison of Germany and United Kingdom

Abstract

Education has been considered a way of social advancement for Turkish immigrant families. Most of them have low skills and lack of education and thus education means a unique opportunity for social mobility for their children. Achievement in the education system would allow their children to obtain higher career and higher status within the society. This achievement gaps are shown to be particularly relevant when considering the status of new generation immigrants who were born, socialised and educated in the host country and who are thus supposed to share the same opportunities as natives. Turkish immigrants’ children underachieve in compulsory education as large differentials have been observed between Turkish speaking children and those who do not come from this background. Their academic attainment falls behind their native peers, and it is lowest among other migrant groups. The aim of this study is to provide insights about the educational achievements of Turkish immigrants’ children in mainstream education in Germany and United Kingdom in a comparative perspective. One of the factors affecting the educational achievement of Turkish migrants is the effectiveness of host country’s educational system and institutions. It is aimed to find out how educational systems’ mechanisms affect immigrant children performance. This study is based on the relevant literature review, educational attainment statistics and government reports. Firstly, the study provides a survey of the literature on the determinants of the educational achievement of Turkish immigrant children at an individual, scholastic and country level. Secondly, it presents research objectives, data and methodology. It was followed by presenting the results of analysis. Finally, this study reports conclusion and suggests possible future directions for Turkish immigrants’ children.