Daniel Martin for the Daily Mail
A Conservative education minister has insisted that immigration is changing the culture of schools for the better – and pushing up academic standards.
Nick Gibb said the fact that pupils who spoke English as a second language tended to be academically more able, because they had learned to speak two languages.
And he said that when headteachers complain to that the influx of migrants was harming school standards, he tells them they should be doing better.
The comments from Mr Gibb contrast with those of Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, who last week said immigration was changing the ‘character’ of schools.
He said that new arrivals in many communities ‘literally change the schooling because so many people arrive not speaking English’.
And last month Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools, said schools are struggling to cope with an ‘influx’ of migrant pupils – and said that a lack of resources to deal with them was now a ‘big issue’ for government.
Even David Cameron has said that immigration from Europe was putting ‘pressure’ on public services such as schools and hospitals.
Critics warn there is a serious shortage of places at primaries - at which one in five pupils now speak English as a second language.
In some parts of London, children with English as a second language now make up as much as three-quarters of the school roll. The figure is around half in places including Slough, Luton and Leicester.
But speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics, Mr Gibb said he did not accept that immigration was causing ‘problems’ in schools.
‘Children who speak English as a second language tend to push up the academic standards in schools because they've learnt one language already,’ he said.
‘Those schools that tell me that they are struggling with their results because of higher proportions of children with a second language as English, I say to them their results should be higher still because those children have proven themselves able to learn another language and they are very academically able.
‘So I don't really accept that we have problems in our schools so far as population is concerned. We are expanding the number of school places in our schools, we've given billions of pounds, £5billion more money to local authorities to build more school places in our country.’
Mr Gibb admitted that people are ‘concerned’ about immigration.
But he added: ‘Don't underestimate what has been achieved over the last four and half years. We have brought down net immigration by a quarter since 2010.
‘Non-EU immigration we have taken steps such as closing down 650 bogus colleges, we've brought in a new income test for bringing in a spouse from outside the country and outside the EU.
‘All those measures have had a huge effect in bringing down non-EU immigration. We do need to tackle EU migration. The Prime Minister is going to be saying something about that later this month.’
Last month, Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said: ‘When they’re faced with an influx of children from other countries, [schools] need the resources and capacity to deal with it and if those resources aren’t there, that’s a big issue for government.’
Following the comments, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan tried to downplay the impact of migration on schools, insisting schools were ‘doing extremely well’ with students from abroad.
Mrs Morgan said his language wasn’t ‘helpful’, adding: ‘When I go round schools I see that they have adapted and are doing extremely well with students who do come from abroad.’