Education and Integration
The team of the department Education and Integration. Photo:private
We determine how teaching and learning in the immigration society can succeed and look for approaches to improve educational integration.
Opportunities and challenges of migration-related diversity in the German education system
About one third of learners in the German education system come from families with a migration history. Many of these children and adolescents are well integrated in the education system. They acquire the skills that are required for qualified degrees, are motivated learners, feel comfortable in school and are well-liked by their peers. However, children and adolescents from immigrant families are on average still less successful in the German education system than their peers from majority families. This applies particularly to first generation immigrants. Under what conditions do immigrants and their descendants succeed in their educational integration? What factors hinder this process? And how can we effectively support this process?
Conditions for successful educational integration
The department “Education and Integration” investigates individual, family-related and institutional conditions that influence the success but also the emotional and social adjustment of children and adolescents with a migration history within the German education system. We also determine factors that support their emotional and social adaptation. For instance, at the individual and family level, we study the role of language competencies in the first and second language, of students’ social origin, and cultural identity. In addition, we examine how teachers, peers, and structural characteristics of the education system affect the educational development of children and adolescents with and without a migration history. Here, we explore teacher stereotypes and teacher expectations as well as discrimination processes and social relations in the classroom. Another key question are individual and institutional conditions of the educational integration of refugee children and adolescents. We also investigate approaches to promote educational integration, especially language support programs.
We take on a perspective that considers society as a whole. Therefore, our focus is not exclusively on learners from immigrant families. The overarching goal of our research is to contribute to an objective discussion on integration in the education system through well-founded research and to improve teaching and learning processes in ethnically and linguistically diverse contexts.
Multidisciplinary and multimethod approach
We combine psychological, sociological and educational perspectives. We exploit large-scale data and apply, when possible, longitudinal designs. We also conduct video and intervention studies to analyze educational processes more profoundly and to determine effects of interventions. To summarize the current state of research and to specify the conditions under which certain effects occur, we use meta-analytical approaches. Our quantitative-empirical focus is complemented by qualitative approaches.
Current research projects
sub-study on the language competencies of students with a migration background
Duration: 01/2023 – 12/2027
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Aileen Edele, Prof. Dr. Petra Stanat
Research Associate: Leonie Dreißigacker
Funding: Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe (LIfBi)
Project Description
The National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) investigates educational processes and competence development from early childhood to late adulthood in a longitudinal study. This project is located at the Institute for Quality Development in Education (IQB).
Within the educational panel, there is a specific perspective on "educational attainment of individuals with a migration background across the lifespan", which focuses on capturing educationally relevant migration-specific characteristics. A focus on lifelong educational processes is the assessment of the knowledge and competencies of students in the language of the parents' country of origin, as characteristics of first and second language acquisition are central explanatory dimensions for educational and labor market success. Other focuses include family language/heritage language and language use in different contexts.
Duration: 02/2025–01/2028
Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Aileen Edele
Network coordination: Dr. Alison Benbow
Research Associate: Leonie Dreißigacker
Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), European Union via the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus)
Project Description
MELT is a joint project of the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM) at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Federal Parents' Network of Migrant Organisations for Education and Participation (bbt).
The aim is to better understand the conditions for success and obstacles to migrant parent participation in schools, to develop scientifically sound approaches to educational participation and ultimately to strengthen cooperation between schools and parents with a history of migration. The project takes into account the perspective of migrant self-organisations as well as the perspective of parents and schools, whereby the focus is on the perspective of parents and the experiences of self-organisations, as this has not been sufficiently researched to date. The data is collected and analysed by means of interviews, questionnaire surveys and document analyses.
Based on these findings, transfer projects will be implemented with bbt member organisations from 2026. These will test practical models for the sustainable promotion of parental involvement in the education system.
The results will be incorporated into recommendations for action aimed at educational stakeholders, politicians and administrators and discussed together with migrant parents.
Duration: 01/2025–12/2027
Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Aileen Edele
Co-principal investigator: Dr. Alison Benbow, Prof. Dr. Philipp Jugert (Universität Duisburg-Essen, InZentIM)
Project coordinator: Begüm Güngör
Research Associate: Begüm Güngör
Funding: Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ)
Project Description
Democratic societies are enlivened by civic engagement. Participation in state and civic institutions allows individuals to actively shape social processes, express their own positions and improve the community for the benefit of all. Such forms of political participation are particularly important for people without German citizenship. Against this background, the project Strengthening participation in state and civil society institutions: perspectives of migrant parents (PARMEL), as a part of the collaborative DeZIM research project Political (In)Equality in Post-Migrant Democracy (PoMigDem), examines the institutional and contextual conditions of parental participation in key institutions of socialisation focusing particularly on the under-researched perspective of parents with an immigration history.
A quantitative analysis of their interplay
Duration: 09/2025–09/2028
Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Aileen Edele, Prof. Dr. Michael Becker (TU Dortmund, IFS)
Co-principal investigator: Dr. Kristin Schotte
Research Associates: Dr. Lena Hofbauer, Maximilian Brinkmann (TU Dortmund)
Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project Description
In Germany, inequality of opportunity in education persists. Research shows that students from families with low socioeconomic status and a migration history tend to perform less well in school and, on average, attain lower educational qualifications.
However, because social background and migration history are rarely considered in conjunction, such findings often fail to capture the full diversity of students’ background and their experiences. On the one hand, migration-related experiences vary greatly; for example, they differ in terms of country of origin or length of stay in Germany. On the other hand, we assume that these experiences interact with the socioeconomic status of the family in complex ways. Moreover, family-related factors, such as parents’ educational expectations, the extent of support they provide with learning, or their familiarity with the education system can also matter in shaping a child’s educational trajectory.
The central aim of this project is to examine the interplay between social background, migration history, family circumstances, and gender. The analysis is based on data from more than 300,000 students collected in large-scale studies conducted in Germany. In addition to academic performance, we also consider other indicators of educational success such as motivation, socio-emotional factors, educational transitions, and final educational attainment.
For this project, our research group is collaborating with Prof. Dr. Michael Becker's research group at TU Dortmund, Center for Research on Education and School Development (IFS).
Duration: 08/2026–08/2028
Principal investigator: Dr. Abdullah Atmacasoy
Co-operation partners: Leonie Dreißigacker, Prof. Dr. Aileen Edele
Host: Prof. Dr. Aileen Edele
Project Description
The debate about inclusion of newly arrived migrant children in schools primarily revolves around two questions: how successfully, and under what conditions are newly arrived children integrated into the German school system, and what implications does their inclusion have for existing students in mainstream classes? While the first question has been widely examined in prior research, the effects of integrating newly arrived migrant children on existing students are to date largely unresolved, which yields divergent interpretations about the broader impact of migration.
Previous studies examining the role of classroom composition and diversity in the German context have not distinguished between children with a migration background—many of whom were born in Germany and have completed all or a substantial part of their schooling there—and newly arrived migrant children, who have lived in Germany for only a few years. However, the influence of these two groups on classroom processes and on their classmates’ learning outcomes may differ significantly.
This project therefore aims to investigate how the inclusion of newly arrived migrant children in mainstream classes is associated with the academic outcomes of existing students in Germany. The analyses are based on data from large-scale educational monitoring studies conducted in Germany.
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