The ‘acting native’ hypothesis: Evidence from classrooms in four European countries

Abstract

In analogy to the controversial ‘acting White’ narrative for racial achievement gaps among US children, I explore whether migrant background pupils in Europe are exposed to similar social pressure by their peers not to adopt behaviours perceived to be typical of the majority group, notably doing well in school. Leveraging comprehensive longitudinal data on classroom interactions and several proxies for academic achievement, including predetermined measures of ability, I find mixed and model-dependent evidence in support of this ‘acting native’ hypothesis in the European context.