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Assessment by “New Danes” of the Introduction Programme and their Level of Integration

Eigil Boll Hansen and Christophe Kolodziejczyk

Danish local authorities are obliged to offer newly arrived aliens – “new Danes” – a three-year introduction programme. The purpose of this user study was to map new Danes’ experience of and satisfaction with the programme, examining their participation in different aspects of life in Denmark, their participation in the introduction programme and their satisfaction with various components of the programme.
As stipulated in the assignment received from the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs, the study focused on the following general points:

  1. The effects of the introduction programme as expressed in the level of integration of new Danes who had completed the three-year programme. The level of integration is measured in relation to the targets defined in the Integration Act.

  2. New Danes’ satisfaction with the programme.

  3. New Danes’ participation in the programme.

  4. Mapping new Danes’ own experience of being accepted, of inclusion and other matters of attitude. 

The population

The population for this study consisted of persons aged 18 and more who had been granted a residence permit during the period 1 March-31 December 2004 and who came within the scope of the Integration Act. The Integration Act covers refugees (and certain aliens with other asylum-related grounds for remain¬ing in Denmark) and those aliens permitted to remain in Denmark under the family reunification rules laid down in the Aliens Act. In contradistinction, the Integration Act does not extend to foreign workers and members of their families who accompany them, nor to aliens who obtain the right of residence under EU rules.
For the purpose of the study, a random sample consisting of a total of 561 persons from the study population was surveyed by questionnaire in the beginning of 2009, and supplementary information was drawn from official records.
Of the total of about 2,000 people who received residence permits in the last ten months of 2004, almost half came from Asia, while a quarter came from European non-Western countries. For more than half, the ground for granting the permit was family reunification with persons who were not refugees. There was a preponderance of women and 30-49-year-olds. The great majority were married, and just under half had a Danish partner.
There are a number of points where comparisons can be drawn with a similar study made in 2007. However, the comparison is subject to the reservation that the 2007 study looked at immigrants who had received their residence permits three to four years previously, whereas the immigrants in the present study had held their residence permits for four to five years.

Principal findings

The present study found that where comparison was possible with the 2007 study, levels were consistently unchanged or improved.
With regard to the level of integration, there were improvements with regard to the new Danes’ assessment of their Danish language skills and the proportion of them in work. On the latter point, the question was not posed in the same way as before, and a comparison of the proportions in work in 2007 and in 2009 therefore overestimates the difference, as “in work” was more narrowly defined in 2007. Interest in Danish politics has not changed since 2007.
It must be considered a positive finding that a very considerable proportion of the new Danes considered that they managed better about four years after receiving their residence permit mainly because their Danish had improved, they had found work, they had made more friends or had a better understanding of Danish society.
Only just more one in three had a high overall level of integration measured in terms of four selected indicators. Accordingly, it can be said that although a large proportion (for example) was in work that had not also led to a high degree of integration in a number of other areas.
There were two factors that seemed to be consistently relevant to new Danes’ social participation. One was age: younger people had a higher degree of participation than their elders. The other was Danish language skills. New Danes on “Danish 3” had a higher degree of participation than those on “Danish 1” or “Danish 2”.
 After controlling for a number of characteristics of the new Danes, the study found no relation between level of integration and geographical origin, with the sole exception that the new Danes from Western countries had a high degree of participation in fewer areas than did those from non-Western countries. The study offers no explanation of this.
The level of satisfaction with and benefit from the various components of the introduction programme was either the same as or higher than in the 2007 study. The findings indicate either that the quality of the employment-oriented offerings has undergone an improvement, or that they are more often reaching the relevant target group. However, there is still room for improvement, as more than 10 per cent of respondents stated that they had only used Danish to a small extent during their trainee periods.
Participation in Danish language courses and employment-oriented offerings cannot be compared with 2007, as the method of calculation in this study is different. Attendance at Danish language classes is quite high, and it is interesting that we did not observe any link between attendance rates and receipt of state support, even though new Danes receiving introduction benefit at the same time as instruction in Danish who then fail to attend the language instruction may be subject to sanctions.
The understanding of fundamental values and standards of Danish society in 2009 cannot be compared with 2007, as it did not form part of the earlier study. We are therefore unable to say whether a greater or a lesser proportion of new Danes have an understanding of Danish fundamental values and standards. Quite a large proportion has knowledge of a number of standards and values. The greatest lacunae in knowledge seem to be connected with the division of power in Danish society, for example the independence of the courts, and, at a somewhat lower level, knowledge of civil rights and the individual’s right to self-determination.
 The study found that age consistently played a part in the level of integration, and that the level of integration was higher for young people than for older people. This indicates that there may be a need to differentiate the integration efforts according to age, and that there is a need to intensify the integration efforts in relation to the slightly older new Danes.
There also seems to be a need to intensify the efforts in relation to those new Danes who are least well-placed for integration into Danish society, e.g. because they have no networks in Denmark or have a low level of education. This applies, for example, to those who are least well-placed to learn Danish and also to refugees and persons joining them under family reunification, who do not have the same possibilities of being helped by a person with knowledge of Danish society as do those who join family members who are not refugees.
There were also findings indicating a need to strengthen the understanding of fundamental standards and values of Danish society, e.g. via the teaching of Danish. This, for instance, applies to the institutions and structure of society, as well as to civil rights and the individual’s right to self determination.

 

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