Academic achievement of refugee students at the end of primary school in Germany

To date, little is known about refugee children’s academic achievement in primary education in Germany. This study addressed this gap and examined achievement differences for refugee children compared to their peers with and without an immigrant background, as well as associated conditions at individual, family, and teacher levels. We analysed data from the “IQB Trends in Student Achievement 2021”. Multilevel analyses indicated that refugee children face significant disadvantages in reading comprehension and mathematics, mitigated by student and family characteristics. Teaching-related characteristics (i.e., individual student support) showed little association with achievement gaps and exerted no differential effects for refugee children. The results highlight that more intensive efforts are needed to compensate for the less favourable starting conditions and resulting performance disadvantages of refugees, and call for further longitudinal research on effective teaching practices for this student group.