Immigrant families: rising educational levels across generations but persistent inequalities

Authors: Cris Beauchemin, Mathieu Ichou and Patrick Simon and the TeO2 team

Educational levels are increasing from one generation to the next. For families of immigrant origin, is progress as rapid as in other families? Cris Beauchemin, Mathieu Ichou, and Patrick Simon use data from the second edition of the Trajectories and Origins survey (TeO2) to examine this question, analysing differences between immigrant families by geographical origin and sex of the children.

While children born to immigrants in France are more qualified than their parents, their educational levels are nonetheless below those of children with French native-born parents. In families of Asian and sub-Saharan African origin, the parents more often have a tertiary qualification than French-born parents. In families from Turkey and the Middle East, on the other hand, the parents’ educational level is low, and the progress of their children is limited, making this group the least qualified of all immigrant-origin groups. It is well known that girls outperform boys at school in France. This is also true for the daughters of immigrants, who achieve a higher educational level than their parents more frequently than sons do.

Published on: 5/7/2022