Does Teacher Support Widen or Narrow the Gap of Immigrant Students’ Global Competence? A Multilevel Analysis

As the number of immigrant students increases worldwide, cultivating immigrant students’ global competence to help them adapt to new environments and cultures becomes one challenge for educational systems and schools. Based on 47,031 15-year-old immigrant students from 26 economies, this study examined the effect of socioeconomic status, teacher support, and cultural values on global competence (awareness of global issues, cognitive flexibility and perspective taking). The results indicate that socioeconomic status and teacher support can significantly predict students’ global competence. Additionally, the findings suggest that teacher support moderates the relationship between socioeconomic status and awareness of global issues, with the moderating effect varying across cultures. Specifically, teacher support widens the gap in awareness of global issues among immigrant students in collectivistic cultures but reduces the gap in individualistic cultures. Policy and practical implications are also discussed.