This article compares the historical development of education policies for immigrant children in England and France and reveals a lack of awareness on the benefits of cultural differentiation in the education policies which are put into practice in these two countries.
 After a high migratory flow in the 1950s and the 1960s, different types of education policies were developed for immigrant children in England and France. The choice between assimilation and cultural pluralism in education policies stems from the ways in which national ideologies have been instructed through the national education.
 The changes of the organizations in charge of the specific education for immigrant children, which are the Section 11 in England and the EFISEM  in France, improved and clarified the normative framework on which the education policies for these children have been based and developed in both countries.
 However, a sequence of reforms of educational systems in the 1980s constrained the evolution of education policies for immigrant children which had been based on the traditional framework of reference in both countries. In the same period of time, the settlement of permanent  immigrant workers had transformed the characteristics of immigration. Their children were born in host countries and most of them could learn 
English or French before entering primary school. The educational reforms and the evolution of the beneficiaries of positive education policies have had a remarkable influence upon the perceptions and attitudes of school teachers and other staffs towards these children.
 As a result of the modified living conditions of immigrant children and the new habits of educational actors, the traditional framework of reference related to the positive education policies had lost its political and pedagogical legitimacy. Therefore, a new framework of reference has been set up  in the education policies for immigrant children under the new organizations, which are the EMAG in England and the CASNAV in France after  institutional reforms of the Section 11 and the CEFISEM at the beginning of 2000. I would conclude that the current education policies for immigrant children in England and France tend to insist upon the socio-economic elements and a colour-blind approach for a 
better achievement in their education rather than in their cultural differentiation.