Ethnicity Differences in the Completion Rates of Upper Secondary Education: How Do the Effects of Gender and Social Background Variables Interplay?

This article compares completion rates in Norwegian upper secondary education among ethnic minority groups and the ethnic majority. We examine differences by nationality background among the immigrant groups, and between first- and second-generation immigrants, and how the effects of social origin vary between ethnic majority and minority, and between boys and girls. The findings indicate that parents’ education level is of less significance for students with a non-Western background than for the ethnic majority. The ethnic majority students benefit more from having parents with high education, but the immigrants seem to lose less from having low-educated parents. There are large gender differences in favour of girls. Among students with a non-Western background, the education level of the mother is of particular significance for girls, as well as the mother and father having employment. Among the minority groups, students with Bosnian, Vietnamese and Sri Lankan background are doing particularly well.