The Global Search for Education: The Health and Well-Being of Young Immigrants

The recent wave of international migration has reinforced the growing trend in diversity and need to focus on immigrant children’s well-being. A new OECD report, “The Resilience of Students with an Immigrant Background: Factors that Shape Well-Being,” underlines the significant role education systems, schools and teachers can play in helping immigrant students integrate into their new communities.  The report reveals some of the difficulties students with an immigrant background encounter and where they receive the support they need. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the risk and protective factors that can undermine or promote the resilience of immigrant students. It explores the role that education systems, schools and teachers can play in helping these students integrate into their communities, overcome adversity, and build their academic, social, emotional and motivational resilience.

The OECD report focuses not only on students’ academic achievements but also on “their social, emotional and motivational well-being.” In an interview with CMRubinWorld founder C.M. Rubin, report author Francesca Borgonovi, an analyst at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, also discusses the important role of an arts and sports education. Borgonovi notes that “providing both arts and sports in schools are critical to support the growing diversity arising from international migration” and that these subjects “can be particularly beneficial for students with learning disabilities and from disadvantaged backgrounds.”   Read the Full Article

KJ