Ethnic Identity and Educational Outcomes

Teresa Randazzo () and Matloob Piracha
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Teresa Randazzo: University of Naples Parthenope

No 16739, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the role of immigrant children's ethnic identity in their educational performance and preferences/aspirations in Italy. We find that students with a weak sense of Italian belonging show a low performance in reading and mathematics and higher probability of grade retention. Moreover, children in middle secondary school with a weak sense of Italian identity have a low preference towards academically-oriented high secondary track which normally increases the likelihood of pursuing a university degree. We also find that the intention of immigrant children in high secondary schools to enrol at university decreases if they have a weak Italian identity. We exploit gender heterogeneity finding that females are more adversely affected in their educational aspirations when they have not built a strong sense of Italian identity. Immigrant children will soon form a very important component of the Italian labour force and shedding light on their educational outcomes will help us understand their performance in the Italian labour market better.

Keywords: ethnic identity; educational performance; educational preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 I2 J15 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2024-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
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Working Paper: Ethnic identity and educational outcomes (2024)
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