Performance of immigrant students in PISA 2022

The PISA 2022 results show that there are still major disparities in performance between immigrant and non-immigrant students in all domains of assessment. Underperformance of students with an immigrant background is often explained by weak reading performance and lower socio-economic status.

The first results of the PISA 2022 survey were published in December 2023. The survey used oversampling* to better study the performance of immigrant students and the factors affecting it. A similar study was last carried out in 2012. 

Disparities in student performance by immigrant background remain large but have reduced since 2012

The reading performance of students with an immigrant background, as of all students in Finland, had weakened compared to 2012. In mathematics and science, the performance gap between immigrant students and their non-immigrant peers had narrowed due to a steeper decline in the scores of non-immigrant students. In all domains of assessment, second-generation immigrant students outperformed their first-generation immigrant peers. 

Many low performers among immigrant students

A large share of immigrant students in Finland performed poorly according to the PISA definition. In mathematics, 58 per cent of first-generation immigrants and 43 per cent of second-generation immigrants attained a low level of proficiency compared to 22 per cent of non-immigrant students. Among students with an immigrant background, the change from 2012 in the share of students with low mathematical proficiency was statistically insignificant. By contrast, the share of those with low levels of reading literacy had grown. As many as 61 per cent of first-generation and 39 per cent of second-generation immigrant students performed poorly in reading in 2022. Students who according to the OECD definition are low performers are not considered to have sufficient proficiency to participate fully in society, such as in further studies and in the workforce.

Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz is concerned about the results for new immigrants. He promises to invest in strengthening comprehensive school education, including the teaching of Finnish and Swedish as a second language.

"We will improve basic skills, in other words, reading, writing and mathematics, by increasing the minimum number of lessons in primary and lower secondary education by three weekly lessons per year. By restructuring support for learning we will ensure the availability of sufficient support measures for all learners in pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education. Needs-based positive discrimination funding especially supports the learning of those who come from more disadvantaged backgrounds,” says Minister Adlercreutz.

Reading fluency and family background explain variation in reading literacy in particular

Part of the PISA reading assessment, the reading fluency test assesses the ease with which students can understand short sentences in the language of assessment. Reading fluency explained to a large extent the variation in performance among both immigrant and non-immigrant students, and it accounted for up to half of the disparity in student performance related to immigrant background, in other words, the "immigration gap". On the socio-economic scale, immigrant families were on average more disadvantaged than non-immigrant families. Of first-generation and second-generation immigrant students, 52 per cent and 43 per cent respectively were in the bottom quarter of the socio-economic distribution.

It therefore seems that it is not immigrant background in itself that predicts students' low performance in PISA, but the associated low proficiency in the language spoken at school and low socio-economic status.

Variation in performance between schools linked to socio-economic status of immigrant students

Mean performance of non-immigrant students did not vary greatly in terms of how many immigrant students attended the school. By contrast, the performance of immigrant students was strongest in schools with the lowest concentration of students with an immigrant background, and the performance of immigrant students dropped as their proportion of the student population grew. In addition, the higher the concentration of immigrant students in school, the lower their average socio-economic status. A similar correlation was not observed for non-immigrant students. Accounting for student socio-economic status, however, reduced the immigration gap in both mathematics and reading. The gap narrowed most in schools where there were 40 per cent or more students with an immigrant background and where the difference in student socio-economic status was the largest. 

First-generation immigrant students are bullied more than others 

First-generation immigrant students reported having experienced bullying at school more often than non-immigrant students. Of the first-generation immigrant students, one in ten said they had skipped school at least a few times a month because they felt unsafe at school. This figure was considerably higher compared to second-generation immigrants or non-immigrant students. In addition, first-generation immigrant students felt more unsafe at school and on their way to or from school than all remaining students.

First-generation immigrant students also reported a lower sense of belonging at school than others. The sense of belonging at school had changed in ten years among students with and without an immigrant background: more young people than before reported feeling like an outsider or lonely at school. 

Attention should be paid to supporting learning and promoting wellbeing at school

The PISA results show that special attention should be paid to strengthening the performance of young people with an immigrant background, and to supporting their learning and wellbeing at school. Teaching both the school's language of instruction and the student's home language and offering support for learning have a big impact on the learning and inclusion of young people who have an immigrant background. In addition, regardless of students' immigrant background, it is vital to provide support for low-performing students who lack skills required for transitioning into upper secondary education, and for students with low engagement in school.

*) The oversampling used in PISA 2022 enables a more detailed examination of the performance of students with an immigrant background and the factors affecting it. In Finland, 10,239 students in 241 schools completed the assessment. Data was collected on 1,866 students with an immigrant background (around 18%), of whom 1,060 were first-generation and 806 second-generation immigrants. Oversampling does not affect the PISA results because in Finland's results the number of immigrant students has been reduced to the relative share (around 7%) of the national sample.

Inquiries:

• Jonna Pulkkinen, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Jyväskylä, tel. +358 40 805 3573
• Kari Nissinen, Senior Researcher, University of Jyväskylä, tel. +358 40 805 4268
• Tommi Karjalainen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Education and Culture, tel. +358 295 330 140

PISA Report (University of Jyväskylä)