Conference Program

Democratic education is grounded in the idea that initial differences can be transformed into genuine learning opportunities (Dewey, 1916; Sen, 1999). Yet, school contexts may nonetheless function as sites where inequalities become entrenched (Freire, 1970), particularly when educational pathways formally diverge, as in the transition to upper secondary education, when students are channelled into distinct tracks (Boudon, 1974). As the limits of a purely formal “giving everyone the same” notion of equality have become evident over time (Sen, 1999; Nussbaum, 2011), SDG 4 of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda (United Nations, 2015) promotes a shift towards equity as the education system’s capacity to transform uneven/different starting points into effective learning opportunities by adapting time, tools, and forms of linguistic, instructional, and relational support. Among the differences shaping today’s classrooms, students’ migrant background makes particularly visible the risk that diversity is interpreted as a limitation rather than a resource (Lüdemann & Schwerdt, 2012; Sprong & Skopek, 2023). In Italy, in the 2024/2025 school year, students without Italian citizenship accounted for 12.2% of the school population (864,425 students), almost four times higher than in 2002/2003 (2.7%) (Save the Children, 2025). These numbers reflect different biographies, ranging from migration trajectories to language transitions, and they may face inclusion conditions that are not always equivalent (Dronkers & de Heus, 2012). Moreover, these dynamics often intersect with students’ socio-economic and cultural background (ESCS), a key driver of inequality that does not simply overlap with migrant background but interacts with it (Dronkers et al., 2012). When initial differences risk turning into inequalities, mathematics often brings competence gaps into sharper relief, because it builds cumulatively and relies on language as well as the formalisation and interpretation of symbolic notation (National Research Council, 2001). To map the size and the direction of these gaps in Italy, this work draws on IEA TIMSS 2023 mathematics data. TIMSS assesses mathematics achievement in three cognitive domains – knowing, applying, and reasoning (Philpot et al., 2021) – and enables achievement to be linked to student background characteristics collected through the Student Questionnaire, including socio-economic and cultural status (ESCS) and migrant status. Focusing on Italian Grade 8 to capture the migrant gap immediately before students enter different upper secondary tracks, the study aims to (i) estimate the migrant-background gap across the three mathematics cognitive domains, (ii) assess whether it persists after controlling for ESCS, and (iii) test an ESCS-by-migrant-status interaction within each domain. Confirming the positive association between ESCS and achievement, our preliminary findings shows that the migrant-background gap persists across all domains even after controlling for ESCS, and that it is more pronounced in reasoning than in knowing. Interaction models further suggest heterogeneity in the strength of the association across migrant groups, with a wider gap observed in reasoning. Although these findings require replication and further analysis, they offer a strating point for identifying areas of greater vulnerability and for informing reflections on the instructional and organisational conditions needed to make mathematics learning more accessible and equitable.