What educational opportunities are available for migrant children in the EU?

High-quality education, suitable for culturally and linguistically diverse children, is one of the most important and powerful tools for the integration of migrant children A new EMN inform examines how primary and secondary education for migrant children is organised in European countries.

> Read the full EMN study (comparison between 25 countries*) and the EMN Netherlands two-pager (comparison of the Netherlands with other countries from a Dutch perspective)

The research shows that almost all EU Member States and EMN Observer Countries support migrant children through public measures to help them find their way in primary and secondary education.

What arrangements exist across the various EU Member States and the EMN Observer Countries?

• Most often this concerns language support, but also, for example, bridging classes, psychological or social assistance in adapting to a different educational environment, and the active involvement of parents or guardians;
• Many countries provide specialised training to offer teachers practical tools and guidance, and specific teaching materials are often available.
• Cyprus, France and Greece have established networks enabling teachers to exchange their experiences. The Netherlands, like Italy, Latvia and Slovenia, has special programmes to prevent discrimination and segregation of migrant minors.
• Finland, Luxembourg and Spain monitor the educational performance of migrant children compared with other children in primary and secondary education.

Nevertheless, language barriers, differences between education systems and a shortage of teachers qualified to teach in multilingual settings remain a challenge for many countries. Countries also face a growing trend of marginalisation of migrant children, lower attendance and higher dropout rates.

*Participating countries: Austria (AT), Bulgaria (BG), Cyprus (CY), Czechia (CZ), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Greece (EL), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Croatia (HR), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Latvia (LV), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Sweden (SE), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES); Ukraine (UA), Serbia (RS)