Policies against early school leaving of immigrant children: a comparative study

The high early school leaving rates are a recurrent phenomenon in the European Union. It affects more intensively to students with a migrant background. Because of this situation, the structural inequalities of migrant population in the Member States of the European Union are exacerbated. For this reason, the aim of this article is to identify how Germany, Spain, Italy and Sweden develop European policies against early school leaving. To this end, this static study was carried out based on Comparative Education methodology. In consequence, a tree of dimensions and parameters was designed based on the policy against early school leaving issued by the European Union in 2022. This policy identifies three kind of measures: prevention, intervention and combined. The results show that the four countries provide a wide range of support to prevent early school leaving of immigrant students. Most of the supports are focus on language programmes and teacher training. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the support offered by these countries is focused on the curricular dimension, while the emotional one is less represented. Moreover, in general terms, there is a convergence between European policies and their implementation at national level, but they require a more comprehensive and intersectional approach.