Increasingly multinational – and hence multicultural – societies have an impact on education and student achievement. Data from PISA 2003 and 2006 indicate that the educational challenges posed by family background, socio-economic context, and migration status are not only strongly linked to student outcomes, they are the main determinants of student performance over and above the influence of the school.* School education must therefore seek to overcome socio-economic inequalities and, at the same time, utilise the benefits that diversity brings to schools and classrooms. A key recommendation from the PISA studies was that schools should do better in building on the emotive capital of immigrant students as a driving source for enhancing their learning. One way in which they can do this is to use the strength and flexibility of their teachers – but of course for this to be effective teachers must receive appropriate support and training.

The analytical phase of this project, spanning from December 2007 to September 2009, would not have been possible without the support of the hosts of the expert meetings in Brussels, Belgium (Ministry of Education, Flemish Community) and Genoa, Italy (Regione Liguria, Centro Studi MEDI ). We wish to acknowledge the contribution of the following individuals in organising the meetings from the host side: Gaby Hostens (Belgium), Luiza Ribolzi, Massimiliano Costa, Maurizio Ambrosini, Andrea Torre and Andrea Ravecca (Italy).

Increasingly multicultural societies have an impact on education and student achievement. Educational challenges posed by family background, socio-economic context and migration status are not only strongly linked to student performance, they determine student performance over and above the school’s influence.* Schools and education systems must therefore seek to overcome such inequalities and at the same time harness the benefits that students and teachers from diverse backgrounds bring to classrooms. A successful school system treats diversity as a source of potential growth rather than an inherent hindrance to student performance. It uses the strength and flexibility of its teachers to draw out this potential, and provides them with the appropriate support and guidance to accomplish this task.