Integrating Immigrant Children into Schools in Europe

CONCLUSIONSThe question of how to integrate immigrant populations within the societies in which they have settled isat the heart of current political debate in the majority of European countries. In some of them,immigration has occurred only fairly recently, whereas others have long-standing experience of devisingand implementing policies in this area. For all these countries, immigrant populations correspond to asocial reality to be taken into account.Aware of these concerns, the European Union is gradually developing a common policy to ensure thatthe conditions governing the entry of immigrants and asylum seekers into its member countries and theirresidence therein are fully consistent (see Chapter 1).A second challenge is to ensure that immigrants are successfully integrated within their host societies.How can one implement appropriate arrangements to facilitate the integration of immigrant personswhile also remaining fully mindful of their origins and attentive to requirements deriving from them? Themany possible answers to this question depend on the specific circumstances facing each of thecountries concerned.The survey undertaken by the Eurydice Network has focused mainly on the integration of immigrantchildren at school and highlighted the crucial importance of the following points.Everyone has a Basic Right to EducationIn one way or another, most European countries are equally concerned to ensure that immigrant childrenbenefit from their basic right to education. To this end, appropriate legislative measures have beenmade an integral part of national law in the majority of countries. At European level, the Charter ofFundamental Rights ( 1 ) also states in its Chapter II on Freedoms that:‘1. Everyone has the right to education and to have access to vocational and continuingtraining.’‘2. This right includes the possibility to receive free compulsory education.’ (Article 14, Right toEducation).Over and above official documents and statements of intent, European education systems have to decidewhat measures they will take to ensure that all young people within the compulsory education agerange,irrespective of whether or not they are nationals of the countries concerned, exercise their right toeducation in practice.While some countries associate the right to education with the length of time that the families ofimmigrant children have been resident within them, almost all European countries comply fully with thisbasic right, extending it to all immigrant children, irrespective of their residential status. In other words,families of refugees or asylum seekers or those who are irregularly resident, no less than those with longtermresidential status, may all enrol their children at a school in the host country. These children are alsoentitled to benefit from school services or from financial support awarded by the education authorities, inthe same way as nationals of the country concerned (Chapter 3).( 1 ) Signed and proclaimed by the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission at the NiceEuropean Council on 7 December 2000.67