Premium
How Studies of the Educational Progression of Minority Children Are Affecting Education Policy in Denmark
Author(s) -
Colding Bjørg,
Hummelgaard Hans,
Husted Leif
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2005.00464.x
Subject(s) - apprenticeship , vocational education , immigration , danish , preparedness , educational attainment , ethnic group , demographic economics , school dropout , dropout (neural networks) , political science , population , psychological intervention , psychology , economic growth , sociology , medicine , pedagogy , demography , economics , geography , nursing , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , machine learning , computer science , law
Over the past decade, the number of ethnic minorities in Denmark has increased rapidly, now accounting for over 8 per cent of the total population. This paper presents results from a number of recent studies regarding the educational choices of minority children from less developed countries. An important social concern is that the educational attainment of these children is much lower than among native Danes. The studies show that that a main reason for the education gap is very high dropout rates from vocational schools among minority children and that inadequate Danish language proficiency of immigrants, parents and their children, is an important reason for the high dropout rates, as are inadequate educational preparedness from grade school and insufficient apprenticeship positions available for minority youth. Socio‐economic background, however, has relatively little effect. Recent policy changes to reduce dropout rates from vocational schools are reviewed and additional policy interventions are proposed.