OECD Reviews of Migrant Education - Austria
Austria has a considerable history of immigration, shaped by different phases of immigration policy since the 1960s. Students with a non-German mother tongue now make up 16% of the overall student population in Austria, and 21% of students enrolled in primary schools. About half of these students have Austrian citizenship, and many were born in Austria. There are large variations in the geographic distribution of immigrant students: while 39% of the students in Vienna have a non-German mother tongue, this is the case for only 8% in Styria and Carinthia. Overall, however, less than 20% of Austrian schools do not have students with a non-German mother tongue. This means that teaching immigrant students is not an isolated task for a small group of specialists, but rather an important part of the reality facing teachers every day.
Compared to their native Austrian peers, immigrant students on average have weaker education outcomes at all levels of education. At the end of primary education, the average student with neither parent born in Austria already performs well below his or her peers in reading, mathematics and science. Nearing the end of compulsory education, at age 15, there are very significant performance disadvantages for immigrant students on average. These gaps are especially pronounced for second-generation immigrants (i.e. students who were themselves born in Austria but whose parents immigrated to Austria).
Immigrant students are significantly over-represented among less socio-economically advantaged groups. The differences in socio-economic background account for a large part of the performance gap between native and immigrant students. This indicates that immigrant students would benefit from broader equity policies targeting less socio-economically advantaged students. However, even after accounting for socio-economic background, significant performance gaps remain between native and immigrant students. This highlights the need for targeted support measures for immigrant students to complement other equity measures.
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