The poor performance of foreigners and those with a migration background on PISA testing has often been attributed to discrimination on the part of teachers, yet a new study found the complete opposite to be the case, and that it is in fact German children who are facing discrimination.
“Our results do not show systematic discrimination, but rather the opposite. Children with a migrant background or from socially disadvantaged households are often rated better,” said Sarah Bredtmann from the research group from University of Duisburg-Essen, as reported in Spiegel Magazine.
The researchers believe that teachers are unconsciously trying to elevate children with migrant backgrounds by grading them more favorably due to their perception that they are socially disadvantaged.
The findings have broad implications for the German education system, as now nearly every third student in the country has an immigration background.
The researchers wanted to determine why children from immigrant families are scoring lower on PISA, and whether this has to do with discrimination on the part of teachers, which many experts claim to be the case.
The researchers had the children complete tests in German and mathematics, which were then graded anonymously by the teachers, who did not know which children had taken which test. Then, these test results were compared against the regular tests that the teacher gave out and where the teachers knew who had taken which test.
The researchers determined that teachers were more often lenient with children from migrant backgrounds when assigning grades. When grading anonymously, those with a migration background were much more likely to score worse.
The researchers posit that teachers are taking disadvantages, such as language difficulties or difficult homes, into account when grading.
In classes where there were more low-performing students and socially disadvantaged students, the effect was even more pronounced. The study found that those of Turkish origin were most likely to benefit from “positive assessment tendency.”
Nevertheless, even with those with an immigration background receiving better grades than they would otherwise receive if they were graded anonymously, this still does not mean they are scoring better than Germans with no immigration background on average.
The researchers also say this may even harm their educational prospects.
“If the better grades are based on lower expectations, children could perform below their potential — a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy,” Bredtmann said.
As Remix News has reported in the past, Germany’s increasingly multicultural school system has had dire consequences for educational outcomes, including assaults and conflicts in schools, as well as targeting of teachers.
In Berlin, 40 percent of students do not speak German as their native language, and in cities like Hamburg, the majority of students have a migrant background.
In some cases, schools that were once “diverse” are now becoming homogenous, but that is due to an absence of ethnic Germans and the dominance of, for example, Middle Eastern groups. In some of these schools, anti-Semitism is commonplace, with Muslim students partaking in small pranks like taping “Jew” to one student’s back all the way to outright assault in other cases, according to Die Welt.
Last year, Stefan Düll, the president of the German Teachers’ Association, warned that the German education system is facing a serious crisis as increasingly more and more students are speaking little or no German at all.
The president says that a high proportion of these children speak little or no German, which is putting an enormous burden on teachers.
“After all, they don’t speak Farsi or Ukrainian. How are they supposed to teach them?” he asked.
He said that students are also less motivated. “The higher the percentage of immigrants, the more difficult it is to motivate the class,” stated Düll. In his opinion, the high number of immigrants could also lead to “a larger group of illiterates.” As Remix News reported last year, 25 percent of 4th graders cannot read in Germany.
