UK students of immigrant families outperform native peers
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In the United Kingdom, students from immigrant families, on average, achieved higher scores on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams than their classmates without an immigrant background.
This outcome is unusual in Europe, where countries like Germany, France, and Spain typically see a performance gap favoring students without immigrant backgrounds.
British students of the first and second immigrant generations scored an average of 1.2 points higher in math, science, and reading comprehension tests administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The UK joins Cyprus, Montenegro, and Malta as one of the few European nations where students with immigrant backgrounds surpass their peers.
This difference is particularly notable when contrasted with the average 40-point gap seen across OECD countries, where students with immigrant backgrounds generally score lower in science. In Germany, this gap has widened to approximately 80 points, while France continues to underperform the OECD average. The UK reduced its gap to nearly zero in 2025, a significant improvement from a 20-point difference a decade earlier.
Researchers like Lucinda Platt, a sociologist at the London School of Economics, call the UK’s results a “success story” developing over several years, though a definitive explanation remains elusive. Factors potentially contributing to this trend include educational reforms emphasizing specific knowledge over broader skills, and the relatively high levels of education among immigrants settling in the UK, 44% of adult foreign-born residents have a tertiary degree, compared to 31% of those born in Britain.
The concentration of both immigrant populations and high-performing schools in London may also play a role.
