Germany: Systemic, Sociocultural and Linguistic Perspectives on Educational Inequality

This chapter offers a systematic review of German research on the relationship between ethnicity and educational inequality. Three major research traditions are identified: (1) characteristics of migrant students and their families as causes of inequality, (2) features of the education system and their relevance for inequality, and (3) linguistic diversity as a cause of educational inequality. The debate related to the underachievement of children ‘with a migration background’ started in the early 1970s. Initial studies concentrated on the attributes of migrant students themselves or their families. A second research tradition focusses on the school system, school culture or teaching strategies, and their potential effects on a multicultural and multilingual student population. The third tradition includes a linguistic perspective on the causes and effects of educational disadvantage. In all areas, historical, qualitative and quantitative methods are often combined. Most studies examine Turkish migrants or speakers of Russian who come from a range of Eastern European countries. Across all three research traditions, German is the primary language of publication. English has recently begun to assume an important role. The relationship between the research community and government is both critical and collaborative; in our contribution, we discuss examples of research projects from both perspectives.