Mark Levels

Educational performance of native and immigrant children from various countries of origin

Abstract Mostly due to the lack of suitable data, cross-national research on the integration of migrant pupils is still scarce. We aim to fill this gap by addressing the question of the extent to which native and first- and second-generation migrants from various regions of origin, living in thirteen different countries of destination, differ in their scholastic ability. Using the PISA 2003 data, we focus primarily on the impact of origin and destination effects on the scholastic achievement of migrants. The results indicate that family characteristics and origin and destination effects can offer a significant contribution to the explanation of difference in scholastic knowledge between natives and first- and second-generation migrants. However, certain primary origin and destination effects, as well as interactions between these and family characteristics, remain significant and substantive after controlling for family characteristics, suggesting serious integration problems in the case of migrants from a few regions of origin in some European countries of destination.

Do school segregation and school resources explain region-of-origin differences in the mathematics achievement of immigrant students?

Levels and Dronkers (2006) showed that educational achievement differs between immigrant students from different regions of origin (Latin America, Northern Africa, and Western Asia). This follow-up paper establishes whether these differences in educational achievement between immigrant students from different regions of origin can be explained by school segregation, whether along ethnic or socioeconomic lines. Ethnic and socioeconomic school segregation have a negative influence on the scholastic achievement of all students, although the impact of socioeconomic school segregation is greater than that of ethnic school segregation. Ethnic school segregation affects the scholastic outcomes of native and immigrant students from some regions of origin more than those of immigrant students from other regions. The analysis shows that neither ethnic, nor socioeconomic, school segregation explains the lower mathematics achievement of immigrant students from Latin America, Northern Africa, and Western Asia.

From school to fitting work: How education-to-job matching of European school leavers is related to educational system characteristics

Although optimal labour market allocation of school leavers benefits individuals, employers and societies, a substantial part of European school leavers do not find a job that matches their field or level of education. This paper explores the extent to which horizontal and vertical education-to-job matches of European school leavers from secondary education is associated with the level of stratification, standardization, and the level of vocational orientation and institutional linkages of education systems. We combine notions of signalling theory, human capital theory and job matching theory to formulate hypotheses about how education systems affect horizontal and vertical education-to-job matches. We use micro-data on 30,805 school leavers in 20 European countries from the 2009 Ad Hoc Module of the European Labour Force Survey and data on system characteristics. Using multi-level logistic regression, we show that the level of stratification of secondary education is associated with better vertical job matches. We also find that the positive relation between being vocationally trained and education-to-job matches is stronger in systems with stronger institutional linkages. The positive relation between being vocationally trained and vertical job matches is less strong in more vocational oriented systems. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

A review of abortion laws in Western-European countries. A cross-national comparison of legal developments between 1960 and 2010

The extent to which women have had access to legal abortions has changed dramatically in Western-Europe between 1960 and 2010. In most countries, abortion laws developed from completely banning abortion to allowing its availability on request. Both the timing and the substance of the various legal developments differed dramatically between countries. Existing comparative studies on abortion laws in Western-European countries lack detail, usually focus either on first-trimester abortions or second trimester abortions, cover a limited time-span and are sometimes inconsistent with one another. Combining information from various primary and secondary sources, we show how and when the conditions for legally obtaining abortion during the entire gestation period in 20 major Western-European countries have changed between 1960 and 2010. We also construct a cross-nationally comparable classification of procedural barriers that limit abortion access. Our cross-national comparison shows that Western-Europe witnessed a general trend towards decreased restrictiveness of abortion laws. However, legal approaches to regulating abortion are highly different in detail. Abortion access remains limited, sometimes even in countries where abortion is legally available without restrictions relating to reasons.

Migrant pupils' scientific performance: the influence of educational system features of origin and destination countries

BackgroundEarlier studies using a double perspective (destination & origin) indicate that several macro-characteristics of both destination and origin countries affect the educational performance of migrant children. This paper explores the extent to which educational system features of destination and origin countries can explain these differences in educational achievement of migrant children, next to these macro-characteristics.MethodsUsing data from the 2006 PISA survey, we performed cross-classified multilevel analysis on the science performance of 9.279 15-year-old migrant children, originating from 35 different countries, living in 16 Western countries of destination. We take into account a number of educational system characteristics of the countries of destination and origin, in order to measure the importance of differentiation, standardization, and the availability of resources.ResultsWe show that differences in educational achievement between migrants cannot be fully attributed to individual characteristics or macro-characteristics. Educational system characteristics of countries of destination and origin are also meaningful. At the origin level, the length of compulsory education positively influences educational performance. This is especially the case for migrant pupils who attended education in their countries of origin. We show also that at the destination level, a high student-teacher ratio in primary education positively affects migrant pupil’s scientific performance. Moreover, migrant children with low educated parents do not perform less in highly stratified systems and even perform better in moderately differentiated systems than they do in comprehensive one. But migrant children with highly educated parents perform worse in highly and moderately stratified systems.ConclusionThis study underscores the importance of educational system features as an explanation of differences in educational achievement across different origin groups and across migrants living in different destination countries. Although individual level characteristics account for the largest educational achievement differences, educational system characteristics have an effect on top of these individual level characteristics and the average educational performance in their countries of origin. Differences in educational systems contribute to explaining the effects of economic and political macro-characteristics of the countries of origin on the educational performance of migrant children in destination countries.

Contextual explanations for numeracy and literacy skill disparities between native and foreign-born adults in western countries

Using new direct measures of numeracy and literacy skills among 85,875 adults in 17 Western countries, we find that foreign-born adults have lower mean skills than native-born adults of the same age (16 to 64) in all of the examined countries. The gaps are small, and vary substantially between countries. Multilevel models reveal that immigrant populations’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, employment, and language proficiency explain about half of the cross-national variance of numeracy and literacy skills gaps. Differences in origin countries’ average education level also account for variation in the size of the immigrant-native skills gap. The more protective labor markets in immigrant-receiving countries are, the less well immigrants are skilled in numeracy and literacy compared to natives. For those who migrate before their teens (the 1.5 generation), access to an education system that accommodates migrants’ special needs is crucial. The 1 and 1.5 generation have smaller numeracy and literacy skills gaps in more ethnically diverse societies.

Abortion Law Reforms and Cognitive Abilities of Teens in Romania

We exploit the drastic liberalization of abortion laws in Romania in 1989 to examine long-term unintended consequences of abortion law reforms for the educational performance of children. Using test scores from PISA surveys conducted among the 1990, 1993, and 1996 birth cohorts, we employ a before-after strategy and a differences-in-differences approach to identify the effect of abortion law liberalization on children’s cognitive abilities. Children born under a liberal abortion policy score significantly higher on tests, with the effects being higher in reading and science scores. Children born after abortion law liberalization are also more likely to attend an academic high school compared to those born under the old abortion law. Boys and children born in rural areas are more likely to benefit from the liberalization of abortion law. These outcomes can mainly be explained by the fact that these children were more likely to have been planned and wanted at the time of conception.

De betekenis van Jaap Dronkers en zijn werk voor de Nederlandse sociologie

Op 30 maart overleed Jaap Dronkers aan de gevolgen van een ernstig herseninfarct. Met het overlijden van Jaap is de Nederlandse sociologie een van haar meest veelzijdige beoefenaren en een van haar meest invloedrijke publieke pleitbezorgers verloren. Jaap was een uiterst productieve geleerde: hij schreef over van alles, en over alles veel: onderwijsongelijkheid, schoolkeuze, het effect van echtscheiding op onderwijsprestaties van kinderen, het belang van de adel in hedendaagse samenlevingen, integratie van immigranten, islamitische scholen, verschillen in cognitieve prestaties tussen migranten uit verschillende herkomstlanden. Het totale oeuvre omvat meer dan tweehonderd wetenschappelijke publicaties. Hij publiceerde die bijdragen in internationale toptijdschriften, maar sloeg ook landelijke tijdschriften als Mens en Maatschappij en Sociologie niet over. Dankzij dit veelzijdige werk weten we veel meer over hoe de samenleving werkt.