The teaching of bilingual pupils in Denmark and Sweden

The academic performance of immigrant pupils in Danish schools at primary and lower secondary level is lagging behind that of Danish pupils, which contributes to restricting their opportunities as regards further education and in the labour market. This report investigates differences and similarities in the Danish and Swedish approaches to the teaching of pupils of immigrant background, with a view to assessing what measures might improve immigrant pupils’ academic performance in Denmark. One of its findings is that there are many similarities and only a few differences. However, there are differences as regards the teaching of Danish/Swedish as second language and mother-tongue instruction, which both have a more conspicuous role in Sweden. The project arrived at its findings partly from register-based analyses and partly from qualitative analyses in the form of document studies and case studies of six schools in Denmark and six in Sweden.