Are second generation immigrants disadvantaged twice in the German educational system? The role of early segmentation in the school system for successful integration

Almost a fifth of the German population has a migration background; among those under twenty years of age it is about 30 percent of which a large share are second generation immigrants. In particular with regard to their education and labour market success, considerable integration deficits are evident. Second generation immigrants achieve lower educational levels than persons without a migration background. They also earn less, on average, and are more frequently affected by unemployment. A new study of the Ifo Institute examines the link between lower educational and labour market success of second generation immigrants and the early segmentation of the German educational system. The results indicate that second generation immigrants, even with equal cognitive abilities, are significantly more frequently recommended to attend a lower secondary school form than children without a migration background. There are no significant differences, however, between secondary school recommendations for second generation immigrants and children without migration background of the same performance level and the same socio-economic background. Since second generation immigrants more frequently stem from lower socio-economic strata, however, they are more strongly affected by their socio-economic background in the transference to the various secondary school forms in Germany.