In the majority of European cities there are schools containing high percentages of immigrant students (first or second generation). In many of these cases, they reflect the neighbourhood population, which also tends to have a low socio-economic status and experience difficulties at various social levels. Poverty or risk of poverty, which includes social isolation, segregation, and vulnerability to continuous change, leads to difficulties at various levels, including limited opportunities to enter the labour market, poor housing and healthcare, and limited educational opportunities (Wilson, 2003).However, added to this, in many of these schools with a significant immigrant percentage (both in poor areas and other urban areas) a drop in the matriculated numbers of native students can be noted. This desertion is often justified based on the idea that immigrants “drag academic levels downwards”.

In fact, research and international reports show that in general, immigrant students experience higher levels of school failure and dropout than their native peers (OCDE, 2010). This idea often allows the blame for failure to be placed on the presence of migrants, rather than questioning the educational measures implemented. However, international studies also show that results do not depend on migrant numbers (OECD, 2006). There are significant differences between countries and between schools with similar rates of immigrant students. The experience of some countries such as Canada, with high percentages of immigrants and good academic results, or projects such as Magnet Schools,   question the argument of blaming immigrants.

This paper presents the results of strategies undertaken in highly multicultural urban schools within the context of a research RTD project funded by the Ministry of Science in Spain (Plan Nacional I+D), which is being carried out by a consortium of six Spanish universities. Despite the fact that it has experienced immigration more recently than other European countries, Spain has moved to the forefront of countries containing the largest immigrant populations over the last decade. This fact has changed the composition of schools, particularly urban ones. Immigrant students are in much risk of school failure than Spanish students. For example, according to the last PISA Report (OCDE 2010), the gap between immigrant and native students is 56 points in reading, while the OCDE average is a gap of 43 points.

However, there are also secondary and primary schools in Spain which are managing to achieve good academic results, while also containing high percentages of immigrants. Along the same lines as work focused on the study of democratic Schools (Apple & Beane, 2007) and others (Louis & Miles, 1990; Haywood, M., 2003), the project aims to analyse which elements or educational practices favour educational success and the improvement of coexistence in these schools.

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