In this chapter, I offer a broad overview of the theoretical arguments and concepts employed in this book. By presenting the state of the art of the theoretical debates on educational inequalities and migrant integration, this chapter provides the grounds to discuss how educational systems mediate the reproduction of educational inequalities for natives and migrants. Given the two-step nature of the research design of this book, in this phase I do not develop structured hypotheses on the micro- and macro-level mechanisms behind migrant achievement penalties: they will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, respectively.

Social inequalities in education

In an accompanying note to his renowned 1966 report, James Coleman illustrates the historical evolution of the concept of Equality of Educational Opportunity (Coleman 1968). In particular, he highlights how, over time, the emphasis shifted from the equal access to schooling toward its actual outcomes. In the United States of the early nineteenth century, Equality of Educational Opportunity (EEO) implied the public provision of free and compulsory education in the form of standardized curricula, regardless of children's backgrounds. By the time Coleman was writing, however, EEO had evolved toward a more progressive conception that encompassed ‘not merely the equality of educational inputs, but also the intensity of the school's influences, relative to the external divergent influences. That is, equality of output is not so much determined by equality of resource inputs, but by the power of these resources in bringing about achievement’ (Coleman 1968, 22). A perfect EEO would then imply that, as children progress in their educational career, the school system is able to compensate – also by means of differential treatment – for any initial disparity. Clearly, this does not entail equality of educational outcomes across all individuals, but only between groups defined according to some ascribed characteristic such as social background, gender, or race (Coleman 1968, 21).

Educational outcomes, in turn, comprise two dimensions: on the one hand, educational attainment, i.e., the progression of students through the schooling system; on the other hand, educational achievement, i.e., the skills and knowledge they actually acquire. Common indicators of attainment are school completion, level of qualifications, grade retention, school delay, and dropout risks. Conversely, achievement is usually operationalized in terms of marks or standardized test scores.