Education policies for the transition and integration of immigrant students are increasingly important in ethnically diverse countries like Canada. Yet the ability to support children’s integration varies greatly across countries, linked to a wide-range of national and regional characteristics.
The impacts of these differences have been observed in the results of international achievement surveys – most notably the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA results consistently report a performance gap between non-migrant and immigrant student groups, but these gaps differ significantly across destination countries as well as Canadian provinces.
It is within this broader context that Prof. Louis Volante has been awarded a 5-year ‘Insight Grant’ by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). He will serve as the Principal Investigator of a study into the relationship between immigrant student achievement and education policies across Canada.
The results of this mixed-methods longitudinal study will have important implications – particularly for senior policymakers seeking the most effective means to improve the educational outcomes of immigrant student groups. Other members of the research team include Co-Investigator Prof. Don Klinger (Associate Dean, Faculty of Education, Queen’s University) and Collaborator Prof. Melissa Siegel (Professor and Head of Migration Studies, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, UNU-MERIT).
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IOM / Muse Mohammed; UN Photo / Rick Bajornas