Brussels, 19/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - According to a new study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), published on 15 May, few developed countries are helping the children of immigrant families to integrate into society through education. Statistics compiled by the OECD's Programme for Student Assessment (PISA) show that, in terms of school performance, children of immigrant families lag on average two years behind their native counterparts, despite their showing real motivation and desire to learn. The gap between the performances of immigrant and native children is particularly wide in Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands ands Switzerland. Differences are least marked in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The problem lies in the failure of most host countries to respond to the challenges of immigration by providing appropriate structures to aid social integration. “Doing nothing isn't an option, the data suggest: with unemployment rates in many countries two or three times higher among immigrants than among nationals, the cost of inaction may be far greater than the cost of action,” stresses the OECD, which recommends an educational system that is appropriate for young immigrants, able to provide them with the necessary skills to join the jobs market. There continues to be too great divisions of schools with high immigrant numbers and schools which have very few foreign children: several countries still operate in archaic fashion, systematically directing immigrant children to the same schools characterised by lower performance expectations, with the result that there is the risk of discrimination against young qualified immigrants seeking employment. Within the immigrant population, language and country of origin may be factors leading to social exclusion, but this statistic must be treated with caution, says the OECD (immigrant students whose families came from Turkey do significantly worse in Germany than in Switzerland). Furthermore, the study discovered that, in a number of countries, second-generation immigrant children still perform as badly as their first generation counterparts. However, in some countries with high levels of immigration, the performance of second generation immigrant students are much closer to that of native children, suggesting that public policy can make a difference. These countries have well-established language support programmes in early childhood education and primary school that have clearly defined goals, standards and evaluation schemes. (For further information: http: //http://www.oecd.org )