Policy Brief-ESRI report: How are children of migrants faring?

ESRI report: How are children of migrants faring?  

Last week, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) hosted a webinar to coincide with the publication of a new report on the experiences of migrant children in Ireland.

There is a growing body of research on the experiences of children who were not born in Ireland, however comparatively little has been done on the experiences of second-generation children i.e. children born in Ireland who have at least one migrant parent. The outcomes of children born in Ireland to migrant parents is an important indicator of migrant integration. The new report, produced in partnership with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, examines English language and reading development from 3 years to 9 years of age and self-esteem at 9 years of age. The role of early years settings featured prominently in the report which underlined the importance of high-quality services for children. The report found that migrant-origin children were somewhat less likely than those with native Irish parents to have attended a setting, prior to enrolment in the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme (ECCE) scheme. This underlines the importance of ensuring that all children have access to high-quality early years education and care regardless of their parents’ circumstances.

Fluency in English is seen as essential for children’s school success as well as their interactions with peers. A delay in acquiring sufficient language skills may undermine equality of opportunity in childhood and in later life. How children view themselves and their linguistic proficiency is likely to influence their experiences in the Irish education system and beyond, and to ultimately shape their integration into society. Migrant-origin children show considerable progress in English-language development between the ages of three and nine: at age three, 60 per cent of migrant-origin children were in the bottom quintile (fifth) on an English vocabulary test (including those who had insufficient language skills to take part in the test). By age five, this had declined to 52 per cent. By age nine, 26 per cent were in the bottom quintile for reading, compared to 20 per cent of their Irish-origin peers.

The report also found that a child’s linguistic background played a greater role than parental ethnicity or country of origin. Children whose mothers come from the UK or other English-speaking countries (the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand) do not differ from the children of Irish mothers in English vocabulary scores at age five. However, children with mothers from eastern Europe have significantly lower English vocabulary scores, on average, than students of Irish origin. Children in disadvantaged areas have a lower vocabulary score even after the research was controlled for differences in family background.

The report included several other findings in relation to language proficiency:

• Children with both parents (or lone parent) born abroad were more likely to attend a designated disadvantaged (DEIS ) school: 28 per cent compared to 20 per cent of children when both parents (or lone parent) are Irish-born and 17 per cent for those with one Irish-born parent and one parent born abroad.
• Despite strong progress in English language skills from the age of three, children of parents who are non-native English speakers still have lower mean reading scores at age nine compared to children with at least one native English-speaking parent.
• The report also found that the proportion of migrant students in a school has no influence on individual reading scores at age 9 but attending a disadvantaged school is associated with lower reading scores, even when family circumstances and vocabulary at an earlier age are considered.
• Having no native English-speaking parent in the household was associated with a lower self-concept score. This was largely explained by lower socio-economic resources in these households.

The study also examined the children’s self-concept, or self-esteem. For the most part, second-generation migrant-origin children do not differ from Irish-origin children in terms of their self-concept score at age 9. This measure incorporates children’s sense of their intellectual, educational, physical, emotional and social characteristics. Interestingly, participation in team sports is associated with higher self-concept among children, regardless of their national, ethnic or cultural background.

The Department of Children has said that this report will be an important input to the National Action Plan Against Racism as well the evaluation of the Migrant Integration Strategy 2017 to 2021, and the development of its successor. Of most interest to our sector, the report also reiterates the importance of access to quality early learning opportunities for all children, including migrant-origin children.

Early Childhood Ireland will be monitoring the progress of these issues for our sector. Our Policy Team is available to answer questions on the topics raised here.