Migrant kids show the way

MOTIVATED migrant kids are trouncing their Australianborn classmates because they aim higher and work harder at school, a global study shows.

Immigrant children living in Australia are 20 per cent more likely than Aussie-born kids to aspire to go to university and 16 per cent more likely to hold “ambitious but realistic” expectations for their schooling.

Migrant kids are 11 per cent more likely to harbour “ambitious career expectations”, expecting to become managers, professionals or technicians by the time they turn 30.

“On average, first generation immigrant students were more likely than native students to report that they want to be best in whatever they do,” concludes the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study.

“One of the most important ingredients of achievement, both in school and in life, is the motivation to achieve.”

In Australia, students born in India, China or the Philippines were 6 per cent to 9 per cent more likely than Aussieborn kids to attain “baseline academic proficiency”.

Vietnamese children were 14 per cent less likely, and Scottish children 12 per cent less likely to reach baseline standards.