Indicator history

The Trajectories and Origins survey was devoted to the educational level of immigrants and their descendants. It shows that there are wide differences in education levels according to origin, which can be attributed to the time of migration, to the different modes of admission, and to achievements in formal education in the country of origin. The differences between the majority and the immigrant population diminish when comparing the majority population and the population of descendants of immigrants: to quote the authors, 'the level of immigrants rises'. The fact remains that 'among the descendants of immigrants whose parents are from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey, the proportion of men with no, or low level,  qualifications is almost twice as high as in the majority population'. The fact that girls do better than boys is confirmed for the daughters of immigrants 'regardless of their origins, with the exception of the descendants of immigrants from Turkey'.

The rate of pupils leaving education with no formal qualifications varies greatly according to the parents' country of birth. It is very high for the children of immigrants from Turkey (27%), and remains significant for the descendants of immigrants from Africa (18% for those from Algeria, Morocco, 15% for Tunisia, and 16% for the rest of Africa and central Guinea). These are followed by the descendants of immigrants from Portugal, Southeast Asia, Spain and Italy. The difference between the immigrant population and the majority population is also evident in the type of qualification, 'many descendants of immigrants born in Turkey and Portugal (over 38%) have acquired a professional qualification (CAP-BEP), against one quarter of the majority population (and 31% and 27% of descendants from Sahelian Africa and Algeria)'.