Immigration Regimes and Schooling Regimes: Which Countries Promote Successful Immigrant Incorporation?

SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com

Y

41

Academic Achievement; Foreign Countries; Immigration; Immigrants; Public Policy; Acculturation; Educational Policy; Comparative Analysis; Outcomes of Education; Social Mobility; Disadvantaged; Educational Finance; Language of Instruction; Citizenship; Achievement Tests; Scores

Australia; Belgium; Canada; France; Germany; United Kingdom; United States

10.1177/1477878509356342

1477-8785

While Canada is often described as the most and France as one of the least successful countries in the realm of immigrant incorporation, the question remains unresolved of how to evaluate a country's policies for dealing with immigration and incorporation relative to that of others. Our strategy is to examine the relationships among (1) countries' policies and practices with regard to admitting immigrants, (2) their educational policies for incorporating first- and second-generation immigrants, and (3) the educational achievement of immigrants and their children. We compare eight western industrialized countries. We find that immigration regimes, educational regimes, and schooling outcomes are linked distinctively in each country. States that are liberal, or effective, on one dimension may be relatively conservative, or ineffective, on another, and countries vary in their willingness and ability to help disadvantaged people achieve upward mobility through immigration and schooling. We conclude that, by some normative standards, France has a better immigration regime than Canada does. Overall, this study points to new ways to study immigration and new normative standards for judging states' policies of incorporation. (Contains 7 figures, 12 tables and 24 footnotes.)

As Provided

51

2010

EJ881168