Peer-reviewed article
Learning difficulties of migrant children in Italy
A.Y. Khaperskaya, C. Şensin ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This report examines the educational challenges faced by migrant children in Italian schools, where one in six pupils now has a migration background. Migrant children, particularly those arriving at age 12 or older, show significantly lower academic achievement than Italian peers, with only 51% of first-generation migrants meeting OECD standards compared to 69% of Italian children. Language barriers are identified as the primary obstacle, compounded by cultural differences, relocation trauma, and social isolation. The report discusses how these factors contribute to internal conflicts and feelings of loneliness among migrant adolescents.
Key points
- Only 51% of first-generation migrant children in Italy achieve OECD-required outcomes in reading, mathematics and science, compared to 69% of Italian children
- Achievement drops further to 36% for migrant children who arrive and enroll in secondary school at age 12 or older
- Language barriers are identified as the primary problem underlying other learning difficulties
- Migrant adolescents experience higher rates of internal conflicts, loneliness, and feelings of not being understood or accepted
- The report examines teachers' professional readiness to address the specific difficulties of migrant students
Limitations
The document provides descriptive statistics and discusses problems identified in existing reports but does not present original research findings, study methodology, or evaluation of interventions. It cannot tell us about effective strategies to support migrant learners or the outcomes of specific support programmes.
Abstract
According to the latest report published in 2018 in Pisa every sixth pupil in Italian schools nowadays is a migrant. Statistic data show the skyrocketed increase of migrant children in schools since 2003. According to the Italian Edition of «La Verità», referring to the OCSE (L'Organizzazione per la cooperazione e lo sviluppo economico report (OCSE)-organisation for economic cooperation and development), "children with immigration experiences tend to be less successful at school than their peers. If 69 percent of Italian children achieve required by the OCSE outcomes in reading, mathematics and science, only 51% of the first generation of migrant children can match them. «This figure is even lower and falls to 36% if we take into account children who arrived to Italy and were enrolled to comprehensive schools at the age of 12 years and older. What is the main problem of migrant children at school in the new socio-cultural context? First of all, it is language. And language snowballs other problems. The traumatic experience of relocation, the difference of cultures and conflict of families with new reality, all this has an impact on the way the child feels in the new world and the way s/he experiences difficulties. Among migrant adolescents one can note a more intensive experience of internal conflicts, they face a wrenching sense of loneliness, don't feel understood and accepted. In this article, we will discuss the main learning difficulties which are most common among children of migrants, as well as the issues of professional readiness of teachers of Italian secondary schools to the difficulties of this kind