The survey on “Integration of the second generation” (ISG) was carried out by Istat in 2015 co-financed by the Ministry of Interior and the European Union European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals (EFI).
The survey involved lower and upper secondary schools attended by at least 5 foreign students. In these type of schools the total number of foreign students registered in 2015 was 148 thousand in the lower-secondary school and 157 thousand in the upper-secondary school.
30.4% of foreign students in secondary schools was born in Italy; 23.5% arrived before 6 years of age, 26.2% entered in Italy between 6 and 10 years old and 19.9% arrived at 11 years or older.
49% of foreign students born abroad was enrolled in the class corresponding to their age; almost 40% was registered in the previous class and 12.2% in classes where the fixed enrollment age is at least two years less than that of the interviewed.
27.3% of foreign students had to repeat one or more years of schooling (Figure1). Most of those born abroad had the experience of repeating the school-year (31%), while for those born in Italy value is closer to that of Italian students (18.7% and 14.3%).
21.6% of foreign students of lower-secondary schools did not spend time with classmates outside school, versus 9.3% of Italian students. 13.8% of foreign students declared they spent free time with other foreigners only.
Nearly 38% of the foreign students declared to feel “Italian”; 33% felt foreigner and more than 29% preferred not to answer. Almost 53% of the students arrived at the age of 10 or older feeling “foreigner”.
The situation for foreign students born in Italy was very different: only 23.7% of respondents felt foreigner, while 47.5% felt Italian.
Many Italian students (42.6%) and foreign students (46.5 %) would have like to live abroad when adult.
Teachers declared in general a good level of integration of foreign students; the most relevant difficulties were related to the language use. Teachers in schools with a high proportion of foreign students declared more frequently difficult situations.
73.1% of head teachers declared a greater awareness than before about the need to plan appropriate strategies for a positive integration of immigrant children.
For information
Socio-demographic and environmental statistics directorate
Statistics on social dynamics and foreign presence
Cinzia Conti
ph. +39 06 4673.7366
ciconti@istat.it