How do European countries integrate minorities in their schools?

5 comments

1. There are (to my knowledge) no admission standards in Belgium for any schools. So, no, we don’t change admission standards based upon the colour of one’s skin. We do provide financial aid to students based on the income of their parents.

2. The word ‘minorities’ is often used differently in Europe.
   Minorities are often groups of people that have been trapped on the wrong side of a border after conflict in Europe.
   This could be Danes living on the German side of the border, or vice versa.
   It can also be roma, and sami people.
   They have the right to establish schools in their own language (In areas where they have had an historical presence), and to be severed in their own language in public offices.

   In Denmark free schools gets pr pupil funding from the municipal, and the parents or the neighboring state pays the rest.
   The Danish state, and some private companies subsidizes Danish schools in Germany.

   https://www.coe.int/en/web/european-charter-regional-or-minority-languages

3. I’m not sure I understand the question. There are a limited number of grounds on which schools are allowed to refuse students admission:

   – There are no more places available
   – There are special skills required that the student does not have, for example the school has bilingual education but the child’s English level is not high enough to be able to follow along in class
   – There are municipal agreements for how kids get divided across schools. This has to do with reason 1
   – You do not subscribe to the school’s philosophy or religion. For example a strict Christian school when you’re not religious. If there is no public (non-religious/special educational method) school within a reasonable area the school has to let kids in anyway.

   If there are more admissions than places for schools a lottery is held to determine which kids can attend. Usually siblings of kids already attending the school, kids who live close, etc get preference and then any places that are left get filled by lottery.

   The only “merit-based admission” that happens in Dutch schools has to do with the education system. Secondary schools are divided into different levels and generally a test taken at the end of primary school (equivalent of 6th grade for Americans) combined with a teacher’s advice will determine what level a kid gets placed at. Some schools offer most or virtually all levels and some offer only a few or even one or two. The latter generally happens with the highest 1.5 levels. And if it is not advised that you attend the highest level you obviously can’t get into a school that only offers the highest level. And similarly if you are advised to go to a higher level it’s unlikely that you’ll end up at a school that only offers the lowest and very practically oriented levels.

   There’s some indirect bias with kids of parents with what is politely called a “non-western migration background” often receiving advice for attending a lower level. Plus of course in cities with limited places it will be harder for them to get into “good” schools in wealthy neighbourhoods if they live in a poorer area with generally a larger percentage of minorities. But all schools that receive public funding (which I’m guessing is around 99% of them) have to comply to the same quality standards so the difference between quality education in one school and another isn’t as great as I imagine it might be in the US

4. So Lowell’s is a selective school funded (entirely?) by the city taxpayers

   There is an equivalent which are Grammar schools and faith schools (and most Grammar schools have a ‘faith-character’ anyway), together these make up 1/4 of all high schools. Some of these might not be entirely publicly funded in fact Im not 100% sure.

   They select based on performance, as they all get too many applicants, the Grammar schools will then select on faith or how local the student is, whereas Faith schools are receiving applications from religious parents anyway.

   There’s no race or ethnicity dimensions to this, the whole purpose of selective schools is to have the best performing students and there is never a shortage of them.

   Nor is there a shortage in San Fransisco, so Lowell’s overlooking some excellent students in favour of less-able students so that they can balance the racial makeup of the school is bonkers.

5. All in all it works like in the Netherlands, I guess.

   Public schools have a territory, and all children within the same district go to the same school. Private schools exist, but are negligible. Of course, the parts of town where housing is cheaper attracts people of lower economical status which are often immigrants, so there are schools where most of the students are from immigrant families, because these schools are in the cheaper part of town. But nobody has to do charity events to raise money for paper and pencils. Field trips maybe, but not basic supplies, does are provided for by the municipality.

   There are language courses for those from recently immigrated families, and some associations of people from the same culture (like, a Tamil association) offer extracurricular courses for children in their home cultures language.

   So 1st-gen immigrants are maybe struggling, 2nd-gen too, but by the 3rd generation, they are practically swissified and integrated.