Academic achievement among different groups in Germany
Encyclopedia
Differences in academic achievement among different ethnic groups in Germany is a topic that has drawn the interest of the German academic and scientific communities.
To properly understand ethnic group differences in academic attainment in Germany, it must be understood that different ethnic groups in Germany have different histories of immigration. For example, one reason why the Italians are doing so poorly is that most of their ancestors arrived as unskilled Gastarbeiter
. However socioeconomic factors cannot explain all the differences. The Spanish, for example, also arrived as Gastarbeiter, but soon started moving up the social ladder. This difference has been attributed to culture.
In Germany Hauptschule
n, Realschule
n and Gymnasien (schools of the tripartite system
) exist alongside comprehensive schools such as the Gesamtschule. Most of the studies presented in this article deal only with the schools of the tripartite system and do not consider students attending a comprehensive.
or the Gymnasium (university preparatory school).
German scientist Dietrich Thränhardt commented that statements about immigrants were not meaningful, as immigrants come from a number of countries and immigrants from some countries were doing well, while others were doing poorly.
One of the groups performing least well were students of Italian citizenship, who were more likely to attend a special education school than a Gymnasium. Most Italian students attended a Hauptschule
.
Students holding Spanish, Russian, Croatian, or Bosnian citizenship were more likely to attend a Realschule or a Gymnasium than they were to attend a Hauptschule. They were achieving as well as Germans.
Students holding a Turkish passport were more likely to attend the Hauptschule
(a school that teaches at a slower path than Realschule or Gymnasium), however some groups holding a Turkish passport such as the Alevi
were more successful.
No other ethnic group in Germany were as successful as the Vietnamese
, 50% of whom attended a Gymnasium, and the Koreans
, 70% of whom attended a Gymnasium.
Educational attainment of Muslim students differed by ethnic group. While 50.2% of students from Iran attended either a Realschule
or a Gymnasium, only 12.7% of Lebanese students attended one of those schools.
The following tables use the German grading system. 1 is the best grade, and 6 is the worst. Former Yugoslavian students will be considered as one group in the following tables; however differences exists between different ethnic groups from former Yugoslavia when it come to educational attainment.
Academic grades differed by ethnic groups:
Academic Grade received for performance in German language class (by ethnic group)
Academic Grade received for performance in math class (by ethnic group)
1 is the best grade, and 6 is the worst.
Percentage of students accepted by a Realschule or a Gymnasium after primary school graduation by ethnic group (only students that attend Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium are counted for this statistic; students that attend a comprehensive or another school are not counted)
According to a study, academic grades played a vital role in determining whether a student was accepted at the Realschule or Gymnasium. However academic grades were not the only factors influencing Realschule attendance. Even if grades were controlled, ethnic Germans were somewhat more likely to be accepted for a Realschule. Gymnasium acceptance however was not influenced by ethnic group if grades were controlled.
Immigrant children attending a primary school that was attended by other immigrant children showed poorer academic performance than immigrant children that attended a school that was less diverse. According to a study immigrant children were more likely than ethnic Germans to attend a school that underperformed other schools. Immigrant children that attended a primary school which had many immigrant students were less likely than students attending a less diverse school to be accepted at a Realschule or a Gymnasium. However another study found that:
Alba et al. found that while Turkish and Italian immigrants did worse than would be predicted by their IQs, that was not true for Greek immigrants.
, 44% of all students from immigrant backgrounds were awarded the Abitur
. Thus students from immigrant backgrounds were more likely to be awarded the Abitur than Germans without immigration background. Karin Weiss attributed the greater success of immigrants living in Eastern Germany to the fact that they had different countries of origin from immigrants in Western Germany. In Eastern Germany there are more immigrants from China and Vietnam, and their culture places more value on education than immigrants from other countries. Other factors contributing to the success of immigrant children were the fact that Eastern German immigrant children were more likely to attend a kindergarten than their Western German counterparts, and that teachers and schools in Eastern Germany did more to integrate immigrant children than those in Western Germany.
(OECD) conducts worldwide evaluations of 15 year-old students, known as the Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA). PISA studies have revealed that youngsters of immigrant backgrounds living in Germany underperformed compared to their peers.
When compared to native German students, first-generation immigrants (born outside of Germany) perform well below the average of first-generation immigrants in the 17 countries considered. The gap becomes even larger among second-generation immigrants (children with at least one parent born outside the country). Among this group, German schools' performance was right at the bottom of the survey. The gap in performance was smallest in case of the performance on reading tests and biggest in the case of the performance on natural sciences tests.
Volker Hagemeister observes that immigrant children in Germany have much less mastery of the language than their counterparts in countries such as Canada or New Zealand, where English is spoken. Additionally, university-qualified immigrants are over-represented in many other countries compared to immigrants to Germany.
However the fact that first-generation immigrants outperform second generation immigrants was a statistical artefact. First generation immigrants and second generation immigrants come from different ethnic groups. First generation immigrants were more likely to be so-called Aussiedler - families from Eastern Europe of full or partial German ancestry who decided to move back to Germany. Second generation immigrant youngsters were more likely to be Turkish, a group that was shown to underperform on standardized tests. Within every ethnic group, those who were born in Germany did better than those who were born outside Germany.
A study by Stanat et al concluded that immigrant children were not discriminated against. The reason why so few immigrant children attend the Gymnasium were poor reading skills. After adjusting for reading competency, children from immigrant families were as likely as children from native German families to attend the Gymnasium.
According to still another study:
Still another study, the ELEMENT-study, compared four groups of students:
The study could not confirm the assumption that immigrant children were discriminated against. After controlling for preconditions of learning (such as cognitive ability and number of books possessed by the parents) and performance and standardized reading and math tests provided by the scientists students of group 1, 2 and 3 had the same chances of being admitted at a Gymnasium. However according to the study children, who had two parents, that were immigrants, but spoke German at home (group 4) might be slightly favoured by the system. Further research will be necessary in order to learn if that effect (group 4 is favoured) is real, as it was not significant.
To properly understand ethnic group differences in academic attainment in Germany, it must be understood that different ethnic groups in Germany have different histories of immigration. For example, one reason why the Italians are doing so poorly is that most of their ancestors arrived as unskilled Gastarbeiter
Gastarbeiter
Gastarbeiter is German for "guest worker." It refers to migrant workers who had moved to West Germany mainly in the 1960s and 70s, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker programme...
. However socioeconomic factors cannot explain all the differences. The Spanish, for example, also arrived as Gastarbeiter, but soon started moving up the social ladder. This difference has been attributed to culture.
In Germany Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
n, Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
n and Gymnasien (schools of the tripartite system
Education in Germany
The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for...
) exist alongside comprehensive schools such as the Gesamtschule. Most of the studies presented in this article deal only with the schools of the tripartite system and do not consider students attending a comprehensive.
Persons holding different citizenships
A study released by the OECD showed that immigrants in Germany perform much less well at school than their counterparts elsewhere, and they are also less likely to attend selective schools such as the RealschuleRealschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
or the Gymnasium (university preparatory school).
German scientist Dietrich Thränhardt commented that statements about immigrants were not meaningful, as immigrants come from a number of countries and immigrants from some countries were doing well, while others were doing poorly.
One of the groups performing least well were students of Italian citizenship, who were more likely to attend a special education school than a Gymnasium. Most Italian students attended a Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
.
Students holding Spanish, Russian, Croatian, or Bosnian citizenship were more likely to attend a Realschule or a Gymnasium than they were to attend a Hauptschule. They were achieving as well as Germans.
Students holding a Turkish passport were more likely to attend the Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
(a school that teaches at a slower path than Realschule or Gymnasium), however some groups holding a Turkish passport such as the Alevi
Alevi
The Alevi are a religious and cultural community, primarily in Turkey, constituting probably more than 15 million people....
were more successful.
Ethnic group differences
Second generation Greek students were more likely to attend a Gymnasium (college preparatory school) than their ethnic German counterparts. The same was true for students belonging to the Chinese or the Jewish-Russian minority.No other ethnic group in Germany were as successful as the Vietnamese
Vietnamese people in Germany
Vietnamese people in Germany form the country's largest group of resident foreigners from Asia, with Federal Statistical Office figures showing 83,446 Vietnamese nationals residing in Germany at the end of 2005. Not included in those figures are individuals of Vietnamese origin or descent who have...
, 50% of whom attended a Gymnasium, and the Koreans
Koreans in Germany
Koreans in Germany numbered 31,248 individuals , according to the statistics of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Though they are now only the 14th-largest Korean diaspora community worldwide, they remain the second-largest in Western Europe, behind the rapidly-growing community...
, 70% of whom attended a Gymnasium.
Educational attainment of Muslim students differed by ethnic group. While 50.2% of students from Iran attended either a Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
or a Gymnasium, only 12.7% of Lebanese students attended one of those schools.
The following tables use the German grading system. 1 is the best grade, and 6 is the worst. Former Yugoslavian students will be considered as one group in the following tables; however differences exists between different ethnic groups from former Yugoslavia when it come to educational attainment.
Academic grades differed by ethnic groups:
Academic Grade received for performance in German language class (by ethnic group)
| Academic Grade | Turkish | Italian | former Yugoslavian | person of German or partial German ancestry not born in Germany | person of German ancestry born in Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 to 2.4 | 6.3 % | 6,7 % | 19.8 % | 22.3 % | 33.5 % |
| 2.5 to 3.0 | 18.9 % | 12.2 % | 18.9 % | 26.9 % | 26.2 % |
| 3.1 to 6.0 | 74.4 % | 81.1 % | 61.3 % | 50.8 % | 40.3 % |
Academic Grade received for performance in math class (by ethnic group)
1 is the best grade, and 6 is the worst.
| Academic grade | Turkish | Italian | former Yugoslavian | person of German or partial German ancestry not born in Germany | person of German ancestry born in Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 to 2.4 | 14.9 % | 11.1 % | 23.6 % | 33.7 % | 36.9 % |
| 2.5 to 3.0 | 20.5 % | 14.4 % | 20.8 % | 31.1 % | 24.7 % |
| 3.1 to 6.0 | 64.4 % | 74.4 % | 55.7 % | 35.3 % | 38.4 % |
Percentage of students accepted by a Realschule or a Gymnasium after primary school graduation by ethnic group (only students that attend Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium are counted for this statistic; students that attend a comprehensive or another school are not counted)
| School | Turkish | Italian | former Yugoslavian | person of German or partial German ancestry not born in Germany | person of German ancestry born in Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| students accepted at a Gymnasium | 8.6 % | 7.8 % | 20.8 % | 28.2 % | 34.5 % |
| students accepted at a Realschule Realschule The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and... |
16.2 % | 10.6 % | 19.8 % | 34.0 % | 30.1 % |
| students attending a Hauptschule Hauptschule A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education... |
75.3 % | 81.7 % | 59.4 % | 37.9 % | 35.4 % |
According to a study, academic grades played a vital role in determining whether a student was accepted at the Realschule or Gymnasium. However academic grades were not the only factors influencing Realschule attendance. Even if grades were controlled, ethnic Germans were somewhat more likely to be accepted for a Realschule. Gymnasium acceptance however was not influenced by ethnic group if grades were controlled.
Immigrant children attending a primary school that was attended by other immigrant children showed poorer academic performance than immigrant children that attended a school that was less diverse. According to a study immigrant children were more likely than ethnic Germans to attend a school that underperformed other schools. Immigrant children that attended a primary school which had many immigrant students were less likely than students attending a less diverse school to be accepted at a Realschule or a Gymnasium. However another study found that:
Alba et al. found that while Turkish and Italian immigrants did worse than would be predicted by their IQs, that was not true for Greek immigrants.
Differences between immigrants living in Eastern and Western Germany
Immigrants living in Eastern Germany are more likely to attend a Gymnasium and less likely to attend a special education school. In the East German state of BrandenburgBrandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, 44% of all students from immigrant backgrounds were awarded the Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
. Thus students from immigrant backgrounds were more likely to be awarded the Abitur than Germans without immigration background. Karin Weiss attributed the greater success of immigrants living in Eastern Germany to the fact that they had different countries of origin from immigrants in Western Germany. In Eastern Germany there are more immigrants from China and Vietnam, and their culture places more value on education than immigrants from other countries. Other factors contributing to the success of immigrant children were the fact that Eastern German immigrant children were more likely to attend a kindergarten than their Western German counterparts, and that teachers and schools in Eastern Germany did more to integrate immigrant children than those in Western Germany.
Performance of immigrants in the PISA examination
Every three years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade...
(OECD) conducts worldwide evaluations of 15 year-old students, known as the Programme for International Student Assessment
Programme for International Student Assessment
The Programme for International Student Assessment is a worldwide evaluation in OECD member countries of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance, performed first in 2000 and repeated every three years...
(PISA). PISA studies have revealed that youngsters of immigrant backgrounds living in Germany underperformed compared to their peers.
When compared to native German students, first-generation immigrants (born outside of Germany) perform well below the average of first-generation immigrants in the 17 countries considered. The gap becomes even larger among second-generation immigrants (children with at least one parent born outside the country). Among this group, German schools' performance was right at the bottom of the survey. The gap in performance was smallest in case of the performance on reading tests and biggest in the case of the performance on natural sciences tests.
Volker Hagemeister observes that immigrant children in Germany have much less mastery of the language than their counterparts in countries such as Canada or New Zealand, where English is spoken. Additionally, university-qualified immigrants are over-represented in many other countries compared to immigrants to Germany.
| Mathematics performance at the PISA | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| students without immigrantion background | first generation immigrants* | second generation immigrants** | |
| OECD-average | 523 | 475 | 483 |
| Germany | 525 | 454 | 432 |
| *born in a foreign country, parents from a foreign country – **born in the country, parents from a foreign country | |||
However the fact that first-generation immigrants outperform second generation immigrants was a statistical artefact. First generation immigrants and second generation immigrants come from different ethnic groups. First generation immigrants were more likely to be so-called Aussiedler - families from Eastern Europe of full or partial German ancestry who decided to move back to Germany. Second generation immigrant youngsters were more likely to be Turkish, a group that was shown to underperform on standardized tests. Within every ethnic group, those who were born in Germany did better than those who were born outside Germany.
| heritage | Mathematics performance at the PISA | |
|---|---|---|
| former Yugoslavia | born in Germany | 472 |
| former Yugoslavia | born outside Germany | 420 |
| Turkey | born in Germany | 411 |
| Turkey | born outside Germany | 382 |
Effect of language skills
According to a study, poor language skills may not be to blame for poor performance of immigrants. The study indicated that the achievement gap between youngsters of immigrant backgrounds and youngsters without immigrant background was the smallest on the tests that required the most language and the biggest on relatively language free tests.Research on discrimination
According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, students from ethnic German families where 4.96 times more likely than children from immigrant families to have their teacher write a letter that states they would make a successful transition into the Gymnasium. If only children who had the same reading scores were compared, ethnic German children were still 2.11 times as likely to receive that letter.A study by Stanat et al concluded that immigrant children were not discriminated against. The reason why so few immigrant children attend the Gymnasium were poor reading skills. After adjusting for reading competency, children from immigrant families were as likely as children from native German families to attend the Gymnasium.
According to still another study:
Still another study, the ELEMENT-study, compared four groups of students:
- Students who spoke German as a first language and had at least one parent who was born in Germany
- Students who had one parent born abroad and did not speak German as a first language
- Students who had two parents born abroad and did not speak German at a first language
- Students who had two parents born abroad and spoke German as a first language
The study could not confirm the assumption that immigrant children were discriminated against. After controlling for preconditions of learning (such as cognitive ability and number of books possessed by the parents) and performance and standardized reading and math tests provided by the scientists students of group 1, 2 and 3 had the same chances of being admitted at a Gymnasium. However according to the study children, who had two parents, that were immigrants, but spoke German at home (group 4) might be slightly favoured by the system. Further research will be necessary in order to learn if that effect (group 4 is favoured) is real, as it was not significant.