Education (XXIV Report on Migrations 2018)

ISMU Foundation has for a long time analysed the multicultural context of Italian schools, considering the difficulties and disparities that characterize the educational paths of students with a non-Italian citizenship (NIC). At the same time, a growing number of NIC students have begun to distinguish themselves through excellence in academic performances,1 and have increasingly been investing in medium-to-long term education, with the support of families and teachers. Drawing upon this data, the chapter presents the characteristics of a phenomenon that, after approximately two decades, has now come to “a standstill phase”, after a rapid growth and a subsequent slackening of this trend across all educational levels (Colombo, 2018). The last official report published by the MIUR’s Statistical Office (March 2018) highlights that in 2016/172 there has been a relatively stable presence of approximately 826,000 students, who represent 9.4% of the total school population. After the “no growth” of 2015, foreign students rose by 11,000 units, especially due to the presence of second generations (foreign nationals born in Italy) and with a parallel, continuous reduction of Italian students, whose number has fallen under 8 million units.