Survey and analysis of various initiatives for bilingual students

Academically, bilingual students do worse in school and in the further education system than “Danish” students. Therefore, municipalities and primary and lower secondary schools have launched a number of initiatives aimed at improving the schooling and educational situation of bilingual students.
The report maps out and analyses initiatives for bilingual children. The survey shows that schools handle the situation very differently. Some schools offer extra Danish lessons after school, other schools offer Danish teaching together with class tutoring, and others offer teaching as an integrated part of class tutoring.
The analysis shows that students, who are pulled out of class to receive extra teaching in Danish as a second language, do worse than students who receive the extra teaching in the class or outside school hours.
The survey is based on questionnaire surveys of municipal heads of administration, school managers, teachers and parents of children in 2nd grade, as well as teachers and students in 9th grade. Data also stems from the longitudinal study by the Danish National Centre for Social Research of children born in 1995 as well as register data. The survey is being funded through the Ministry of Children and Education with funds from the 2009 agreement on public pool of funds.