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.