This paper tests the assumption that a stronger presence of migrant teachers in preschool can help to reduce ethnic disadvantages and contribute to more equality of opportunity. To this end, migrant children who are taught by teachers with a migration background are compared to those who are confronted with only autochthonous teachers in their day-care centre. The outcome variables include competencies in German language, mathematics, science, as well as social competencies of the children. In addition, the study investigates the contact frequency of migrant parents with the day care centre to test whether contact is enhanced in centres which employ migrant teachers. Contrary to expectations, propensity score matching analyses based on the Kindergarten cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) show that migrant children do not achieve higher competencies when being taught by migrant teachers. Similarly, contact to migrant parents is not improved. More teachers with a migration background will hardly reduce ethnic disadvantages in educational outcomes. © 2016, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Minority teachers Preschool Migration Educational inequality

mathematics outcome variable teacher expectation migrant propensity score day care panel study human German (language) kindergarten human experiment Child