Immigrant population and school in Spain:: A research assessment

The flow of working population from other countries has given rise to relevant changes in the organization of receptor societies. That is the way how immigrant children have arrived to Spanish schools. Although these 'new students' are not the only objective of 'school integration' in terms of cultural diversity; the thing is that the intercultural discourse has emerged and grown around them. In this context, a growing scientific production has developed in Spain since 1990 with the aim of explaining what happens with these new students when they arrive at school. This paper is a revision of that scientific literature from 2000 until present days. We have organized that literature in five different fields: 1) Studies with the objective of quantify the phenomenon in statistical terms and concerned with the concentration of these immigrant students in some schools; 2) researches which deal with the welcome programmes and special school measures for these new students; 3) studies which try to explain how languages are taught at school and the teaching and/or promotion of the different mother tongues; 4) researches about the relationship between family and school; 5) studies about the success or failure of these immigrant students in the school system. Finally, we present some reflections that may be useful for further research in this field in the next future.