“It’s Their Responsibility, Not Ours”

Abstract

Abstract. In many countries, there is a gap in academic performance between native-born students and students with certain immigrant backgrounds. Based on ultimate attribution error theory, we examined the stereotypes and causal attributions that German student teachers use to account for immigrants’ underperformance. By including both Turkish-origin and Italian-origin migrants, we assessed whether these judgments are group-specific. A pilot study (N = 70) showed that Turkish-origin migrants were viewed more negatively than either Germans or Italian-origin migrants. Studies 1 (N = 65) and 2 (N = 54) showed that negative stereotypes moderated judgments of internal responsibility for both immigrant groups. Study 2 also showed that negative stereotypes moderated external attributions for the underperformance of Turkish-origin, but not Italian-origin, migrants.

The Relationship between Ethnic Classroom Composition and Turkish-Origin and German Students' Reading Performance and Sense of Belonging

“…Following this reasoning, it might be the case that teachers are prone to perceive classrooms with a high percentage of Turkish-origin students as low performing. This is in agreement with research showing that student teachers endorsed more negative stereotypes about the competence of Turkish-origin migrants than about Germans or Italian-origin migrants (Froehlich et al, 2016b ). The student teachers attributed the underperformance of Turkish-origin students more internally (i.e., to low effort or ability) and less externally (i.e., to discrimination in the educational system) the stronger their negative stereotypes about Turkish-origin students' competence (Froehlich et al, 2016b ).…”

“…This is in agreement with research showing that student teachers endorsed more negative stereotypes about the competence of Turkish-origin migrants than about Germans or Italian-origin migrants (Froehlich et al, 2016b ). The student teachers attributed the underperformance of Turkish-origin students more internally (i.e., to low effort or ability) and less externally (i.e., to discrimination in the educational system) the stronger their negative stereotypes about Turkish-origin students' competence (Froehlich et al, 2016b ). Therefore, it could be the case that expectations of teachers at the student and classroom level become self-fulfilling prophecies by negatively influencing teachers' performance judgments of ethnic minority students (Glock and Krolak-Schwerdt, 2013 ) and also influencing all students' performance expectations (Jussim and Harber, 2005 ).…”

“…For instance, Benner and Graham ( 2007 ) found that the sense of belonging of negatively stereotyped minority students is related to change in ethnic composition at the school level during school transitions in an urban sample in the United States. Taken together, we propose that the same processes are at work for Turkish-origin students in Germany, as they are also frequently exposed to negative stereotypes (Froehlich et al, 2016a ). Consequently, we hypothesize that an increase in the percentage of Turkish-origin students in the classroom will be positively related to Turkish-origin students' sense of belonging.…”

“…Students' sense of belonging to school has also been shown to have positive effects on self-worth later in their academic careers (Pittman and Richmond, 2007 ). Thus, these buffering effects on well-being might be especially important for migrant students who are confronted with discrimination based on their ethnicity (Branscombe et al, 1999 ) or negative stereotypes in the educational domain (Froehlich et al, 2016b ). However, more research is needed to investigate these effects on well-being for Turkish-origin students.…”

Schools as Acculturative and Developmental Contexts for Youth of Immigrant and Refugee Background

“…In Europe, there are pervasive negative stereotypes toward people of Turkish, North African, or other Muslim heritage, which increases the risk for experiencing stereotype threat and discrimination (Baysu, Celeste, Brown, Verschueren, & Phalet, 2016), and can negatively affect school adjustment (Schachner, van de Vijver, & Noack, 2018) for adolescents from those groups. Preservice teachers in Germany, for instance, reported more negative stereotypes regarding competence (e.g., in education and work), social behaviors (e.g., behaviors in social interactions), and culture (e.g., traditions, religion), for Turkish-heritage students compared to both Italianheritage or nonimmigrant-background Germans (Froehlich, Martiny, Deaux, & Mok, 2016). Importantly, pre-service teachers who held more negative competence stereotypes about Turkish-heritage students were also more likely to attribute underachievement to internal rather than situational causes.…”