Equal Education in Practice

1
Equal Education in Practice!
2
Aims for this introduction

• Background information on immigrant children in
  Norway, integration and learning outcome
• Language support policies and curriculum
  development for immigrant children

3
Increased cultural diversity

• Linguistic and cultural diversity is increasing
• Linguistic minority children provide vital
  resources
• The education system should take care of this
  diversity
• Kindergartens, schools and other educational
  institutions are vital in the work of securing
  inclusion and participation by linguistic
  minorities
• Immigrants in all 434 municipalities

4
Immigrant children Pre-school

• An increased participation of immigrant children
  in kindergarten
• Since year 2000 the number has doubled
• Lower proportion of immigrant children in
  kindergartens compared to the majority population
• Kindergarten has proved to be crucial as
  Norwegian language stimulation

5
Language in school

• 120 different languages represented in primary
  and lower secondary school
• 40 000 pupils receive special teaching in
  Norwegian
• 22 100 pupils receive mother thong teaching
  and/or bilingual subject teaching

6
Learning outcome

• First generation immigrant pupils have lower
  score than second generation and majority pupils
  (national tests 2007)
• The last PISA results confirm this pupils with
  immigrant background perform significantly lower
  than majority pupils
• However, minority pupils spend more time on
  homework and are more motivated for learning than
  majority pupils

7
Equal Education in Practice!2007-2009

• The strategy has
• been effective since
• 2004
• Revised version
• 2007
• Also published in English

8
Strategic plan Goals for linguistic minorities

• Improve language skills among pre-school children
  
• Improve the school performance in primary and
  secondary education and training
• Increase the proportion who commence and complete
  upper secondary education and training
• Increase the proportion students in higher
  education and improve opportunities for
  completing education
• Improve Norwegian language proficiency among
  adults to increase opportunities for education
  and active participation in work and society

9
38 concrete measures

• Language training
• Early efforts in kindergarten, maternal and child
  health centre and primary school
• Improve the training
• in Norwegian

10
Language support policies and curriculum
development for immigrant children

• Old curriculum did not work according to
  intentions
• -no platform for transition to ordinary
  curriculum in Norwegian
• -many students continued special teaching
  throughout school attendance
• -lack of competence among teachers
• -no standardized assessment procedures to clarify
  the pupils level of knowledge

11
New curricula in basic Norwegian for linguistic
minorities and in native languages based on levels

• A new curriculum for basic Norwegian for
  linguistic minorities has replaced the curriculum
  in Norwegian as a second language
• A new curriculum in native languages
• Level based subject curriculum in basic Norwegian
  and native languages are based on the European
  Framework for Foreign Languages
• No grade assessment
• Goal As soon as possible learn sufficient
  Norwegian to follow ordinary curricula

12
New curricula cont.

• A standardised assessment tool
• Guidance material for teachers in basic Norwegian
  
• Post-qualifying courses developed for teachers in
  basic Norwegian
• The implementation of the new curricula will be
  evaluated over a period of 3 years
• Guidance material for teachers in native
  languages will be introduced

13
New curricula cont.

• However, still some issues to be solved
• - lack of grade assessment is a problem for
• pupils who arrive to Norway as youths
• - Adults who attend primary /secondary education
  on a short period of time
• Strengthening rights
• -Introduced the right to Special language
  education in upper secondary school
• -Proposed bill compulsory language assessment of
  children with low Norwegian skills
• -Will propose a bill right to until to years
  extra in upper - secondary education for pupils
  with low Norwegian skills

14
The idea of inclusion

• Universal rights and measures /see cultural
  diversity as part of the ordinary
• In combination with targeted measures
• Everyone attend public school
• Diversity as a resource
• Intensify the work to improve the quality of
  education
• Increased emphasis on basic skills
• White Paper Quality in Education
• White Paper Language Build Bridges
• Committee for equal education for linguistic
  minorities in kindergarten, school and higher
  education

15
Concluding remarks

• New policy, legislation and measures are being
  implemented
• Research is being done to learn from new measures
• Too early to conclude on the results
• The issue of learning outcome and inclusion has a
  high priority for the Norwegian government