Heritage and Educational performance

It is a research project on the educational achievement of migrant families in Saxony and Hamburg

The educational disadvantages of children and adolescents from migrant families have been discussed intensively in Germany, and not just since the PISA studies.

In this project on heritage and educational performance, sociologists from the Technical University in Chemnitz and educational scientists from the University of Hamburg look into the reasons for educational disparities among young people from different cultural backgrounds. The project runs for three years.

We will investigate the ways in which parents assist and support their children during periods of transition in the education system: when children enter kindergarten, the transfer from there to primary school, the transfer from primary to lower secondary education, and afterwards to upper secondary school or occupational training. According to education scientist, Professor Ingrid Gogolin, the decisions and investments made by parents during these periods are especially important for their children’s success. The project then seeks to explain inter alia how familiar parents are with the structures and requirements of the German education system. Further questions of interest concern how they obtain important information, from whom they seek advice and support, and which other individuals exert influence over education decisions.

In our investigations we focus on German, Turkish and Vietnamese families as examples of different heritage backgrounds. We will carry out interviews with mothers and children in the 4-5, 6-7, 10-12 and 14-17 age groups. To do this, we contacted more than 1,500 families in Saxony and Hamburg in the summer of 2012. Addresses were retrieved through random processing and are used exclusively for our scientific project. All addresses will be deleted upon completion of the project. As we strictly adhere to the laws governing data protection, the information we process is anonymised. Participation in the project is voluntary and participants receive a gift from us.

The research results will shed light on what familial conditions are particularly conducive to educational success. The project thus makes an important contribution to educational practice, as sociologist Professor Bernhard Nauck (Chemnitz) underlines: “We provide an empirical basis for the development or improvement of parent education that ties in with the successful strategies of family support that we uncover.”

The project directors are Professor Bernhard Nauck from the Technical University Chemnitz and Professor Ingrid Gogolin from the University of Hamburg. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research under the framework “Equality of Opportunity and Participation – Social Change and Strategies for Advancement”.

Please contact the HeBe team directly with any questions or suggestions.