Immigrant Children and Their Parents: Interaction with the Russian School

Abstract

Daniil Aleksandrov, Ph.D. in Biology, Professor, Head of the Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory, National Research University — Higher School of Economics — St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.  Email: d_alexandrov@hse.spb.ru 

Vlada Baranova, Ph.D. in History, research fellow at the Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory, National Research University — Higher School of Economics — St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.  Email: vbaranova@hse.spb.ru 

Valeriya Ivanyushina, Ph.D. in Biology, leading researcher at the Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory, National Research University — Higher School of Economics — St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.  Email: ivaniushina@hse.spb.ru 

The study represents results of the first large-scale survey in Russia focused on adaptation of immigrant children to Russian schools. Analysis of empirical data is used to discuss ethnic and social differentiation of schools, interaction between parents and schools, attitude of parents towards students of different ethnicity, and interethnic communication among students.

It has been found out that children are distributed across schools according to their social status rather than to their ethnicity. The authors confirm the American sociologist theory of positive immigrant selection and first-generation immigrant optimism. The same effects in Russia are explained by the late beginning of mass immigration, which makes them likely to vanish in the next generation.
Using multilevel regression models, the authors demonstrate how migration status and ethnicity influence academic performance. Children from minority immigrant families have proved to be highly motivated, while their academic achievements are as good as those of their native classmates, and aspirations for higher education are much the same in both ethnic minority and majority students. An analysis of social links in schools has revealed no discrimination against ethnic minority students, despite nationalist trends in the Russian society. 

The authors have also determined the prospects of this research in terms of long-term social projections.