The schooling of students from immigrant backgrounds: A Maltese perspective in the late 1990sAuthor: Desmond Cahill ConclusionBoth the educational and immigration fields have undergone great changes in the past decade. The shift to corporatism in schools has endangered the educational pathways for at least some (but not all) students from immigrant backgrounds. The danger is that a more sophisticated version of the old assimilationism is being constructed, operating in tandem with a nationalism that is more narrow than need be. The Hanson phenomenon has exacerbated this trend. The challenge remains, but is more critical than ever, of ensuring that pathways for Maltese Australian students are created so they fulfil their potential and become future citizens not only of Australia but of the world, able to interact interculturally across national, religious, ethnic, language and class borders. All this may be in jeopardy, especially at the secondary level. As one principal remarked in our Immigration and Schooling study (Cahill 1996), "If only, both teachers and students, had a little more help". Educational inequality in respect of certain sections of the immigrant community is now re-emerging as a greater issue, especially in lower SES, high migrant density areas such as the western suburbs of Melbourne. Ethnic communities will need to make their political voice on the ESL funding issue heard once again. The ethnic communities need to realise that the educational achievement of their children is at greater risk than it was several years ago, primarily because of the Commonwealth Government's withdrawal from the ESL education area, except in relation to newly-arrived children, which, in turn, is part of the Government's strategy to de-fund or to apply the cost-cutting mechanism to programs under the multicultural umbrella. The ESL issue at a political level cannot be allowed to fade away. 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