Immigrant children fare well in our schools, says study

IMMIGRANTS in Irish schools are faring relatively well compared to those in other countries, according to an international report.

The study for Eurydice, an information network on education in Europe, shows that Ireland is one of 10 countries which explicitly permits school enrolment for children of immigrants, under the 1998 Education Act.

In most other European countries, there are no rules against such enrolments but Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania and Poland are among those which require proof of residence status before admitting children into the school system.

The study on integration of immigrant pupils finds that 2.3% of 15-year-old students here in 2000 were immigrants, a higher proportion than in 10 of the 27 countries measured.

It also found that, despite the relatively new phenomenon of inward migration, the education system has coped well through delivery of services.

The system of language support for non-English speaking children in mainstream schools is noted as a positive development. Most schools withdraw small groups of non-English speaking children from class, most often during Irish or religion, for a number of hours of English tuition each week.

Although Irish schools provide direct integration either in class or through English lessons, the extra-curricular supports available outside school hours in almost half the countries, including Britain, are not provided here. The Eurydice survey reports that a handful of countries offer no support measures for immigrant children.

Other countries were also found to offer smaller class sizes to accommodate more attention for non-native pupils and to offer other supports not available in Irish schools.