Migration and Integration in France. Academic Careers of Immigrants’ Children in Lower and Upper Secondary School

The aim of this paper is to study the educational attainment of immigrants’ children in the French lower and upper secondary school, taking advantage of the 1989 French National Education Longitudinal Study (Panel national 1989 d’élèves du second degré), a panel study of over 22,000 pupils who entered lower secondary school (form 1) at about the age of 11 in September 1989. Our previous research on this survey had already established that immigrants’ children performed less well than their schoolmates in standardized tests administered in 1989 and that in 1991 immigrant families expressed stronger educational aspirations for their child than native families with similar socio-demographic characteristics. Using as a criterion the success in the baccalauréat examination after seven years in secondary school (or after seven, eight or nine years), we show that immigrants’ children are more successful in the French secondary school than native children with the same social background and family environment. We also show that, ceteris paribus, immigrants’ children are more persevering in the direction of success when they face school difficulties and that the strong educational aspirations immigrant families expressed have a mediating effect and partly explain the more favorable school trajectories of their children. We conclude that some similarity exists between these results and previous research on longitudinal surveys in Australia and the United States. Although they are strongly disadvantaged by their class location and their level of education, immigrant parents in France invest in the educational system to improve their children’s future, they develop strong educational aspirations for them and, in return, these socio-psychological factors have a key role in explaining the educational attainment of immigrants’ children in the French lower and upper secondary school. Paper prepared for the ESF Conference “ European Societies or European Society? Migrations and Inter-Ethnic Relations in Europe ” Obernai, September 23-28 1999 Session “ Migrants and Educational Success ” First version 1999-09-20. Comments invited.