According to the OECD report "Where immigrant students succeed - A comparative review of performance and engagement in PISA 2003" Germany has the worst track record in this regard. The Netherlands, France, Austria, Denmark, Belgium and non-EU member Switzerland are also on the list of countries where the children of immigrant parents most frequently lag behind their indigenous counterparts when they leave school. Out of all the Western European countries, the difference in school achievements between indigenous and non-indigenous pupils is the smallest in Sweden.

The OECD report states that the majority of non-indigenous pupils are highly motivated, and moreover, the fact that they do less well at school can only partially be accounted for by differences in socio-economic backgrounds. According to the report, language teaching is a much more significant factor: in those countries where education for non-indigenous children does function well, there are extensive programmes that arrange to give these children extra language lessons.