Integrating Immigrant Children into Schools in Europe

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Chapter 4 – Measures for the Integration of Immigrant Children at SchoolEstonia, Spain, France, Latvia or Portugal, in all of which a major proportion of immigrant citizens speakthe language of instruction (or, if there is more than one, at least one of them).Generally speaking, linguistic tuition is based on a teaching approach to this language as a ‘second oradditional language’ (i.e. not the mother tongue of the pupils concerned). Meanwhile, in a few Nordiccountries (Finland, Sweden and Norway), as well as Estonia, Cyprus and Latvia, it is also possible to offerbilingual tuition in which teachers use both the mother tongue of immigrant pupils and their schoollanguage of instruction.As regards the amount of time earmarked for teaching immigrant pupils the host country language ofinstruction, major differences may be observed between countries, ranging from 2 to 14 hours (or classperiods) a week.The integration of children in pre-primary education is not often the subject of priority measures on thepart of the authorities concerned. However, quite recently a few countries have started programmes tointroduce very young children to the language of instruction before they begin compulsoryeducation. In Germany, these programmes are intended for children who were born in the country orwho came to it when they were very young indeed. Belgium (the Flemish community), Lithuania,Luxembourg and Norway also provide reception classes for these children to prepare them for theirtransition to primary school (especially in terms of language). The Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden (insome municipalities) run special groups for immigrant children at pre-primary level to introduce them tothe language of instruction so that they will be ready for their transfer to compulsory education. In theUnited Kingdom (England and Scotland), pre-school staff are advised to give particular attention toaddressing the needs of children for whom English is an additional language.Even if there is considerable emphasis on the need to acquire rudiments of the language of instructionrapidly, other support measures are also implemented for the benefit of immigrant children.Among measures to help them with certain areas of the curriculum, additional support for learningis the most widespread form of arrangement. Pupils are taught individually or in groups, generally duringthe part of the school timetable set aside for learning basic subjects such as reading, writing ormathematics. Often countries that organise curriculum support activities at school may also modify thecontent of what is learnt or alter their assessment methods to take the special requirements of immigrantpupils into account. This applies to the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovenia, Finland and the United Kingdom(England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Furthermore in Finland, the certificate awarded on completion ofcompulsory education refers specifically to the mother tongue of immigrants, provided that at least halfof their instruction was given in that language, as well as in Finnish or Swedish.Reducing the number of pupils in each class is another measure adopted in some countries. It is oftenrecommended that separate classes or groups should contain 15 pupils at most. Mixed group classes inmainstream education may be required to include no more than a limited number of pupils of immigrantorigin (as in the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy).45
Integrating Immigrant Children into Schools in EuropeFigure 4.4: Types of support offered to immigrant childrenin pre-primary and full-time compulsory education, 2003/04UKBE frBE deBE nlCZDKDEEEELESFRIEITCYLVLTLUHUMTNLATPLPTSISKFISEENG/WLS/NIRSCTISLINOBGROA1 (:) AA2 (:) A3 (:) BB1 (:) B2 (:)C (:)A1Intensive teaching of the language of instructionALanguage supportA2Introduction to the language of instruction at pre-primary levelA3Bilingual tuition (in the mother tongue/language of instruction)BEducational supportB1B2Additional support for learningAdaptation of assessmentCSmaller class sizes/special norms governing the composition of classesExistence of support measures for immigrant childrenNo support measures for immigrant childrenSee Figure 2.1 in annexe 2 for further details.Source: Eurydice.Additional notesBelgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Iceland and Norway: Because of decentralisation, the measures forsupport described here represent no more than possible examples of what local education authorities or schoolsmight do depending on the resources at their disposal.Czech Republic: The Figure relates solely to special support offered to the children of asylum seekers.Germany: Some Länder offer bilingual tuition (in the mother tongue/language of instruction) in a limited number ofprimary schools.Latvia: In schools that implement the educational programme for minorities, a bilingual approach is used (part of thecontent is taught in the minority language concerned and the remainder in Latvian).Lithuania: As yet, curriculum support is only a theoretical possibility referred to in the General Education Plans forSchools of General Education approved by the Minister of Education and Science.Portugal: In order to develop support for teaching Portuguese to immigrant children who do not speak it, theMinistry of Education department for Ensino Básico undertook a survey of pupils in compulsory education in 2001/02,and in particular those whose mother tongue was not Portuguese.United Kingdom: Category A2 in the figure relates only to curriculum guidance in England.46
Page 2 and 3: EURYDICEIntegrating Immigrant Child
Page 4: PREFACE‘How do education systems
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Page 92 and 93: TABLE OF FIGURESChapter 2: Demograp
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ReferencesUniversity Research Insti
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSEURYDICE NETWORKA.
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AcknowledgementsIRELANDEurydice Uni
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Integrating Immigrant Children into
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Integrating Immigrant Children into Schools in Europe

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