hordaland county educational challenges

• In Hordaland County we have about 1600 pupils this year with another mothertongue than Norwegian, attending 46 different upper secondary schools. (Totally 18000)

• They represent more than 80 different languages - arabic 160, polish 155, tigrinja 101, somali 91, thai 78, vietnam 76, english 69, spanish 64, dari 62, kurdish 61,o.s.o.

• Greek -

• Most of them come from non-Western countries and have only lived in Norway for a short time.

• In Norway the county councils are responsible for upper secondary school education and thus have a special responsibility for young immigrants and refugees.

• Hordaland County Council also has a responsibility to teachers and others who in their daily work are in contact with immigrants and refugees.

• Knowledge and good tools are two requirements for successful integration.

• It is well documented, both in Norway and in Europe, that pupils from minority groups and with non-Western background have a higher drop-out rate than other pupils

We We have 15 introduction classes with more then 200 pupils in 9 schools

Increased knowledge about pupils from minority groups

• The goal of the report Make minority students succeed was to identify their main reasons for dropping out and contribute to more pupils completing their education.

• Researching what they felt, 65 pupils from minority groups were interviewed about their views on school.

• This gave us important information, forming the basis for several measures

We have implemented several measures to close the gap

Paving the Way

The Hordaland Model handbook – providing courses for cross-cultural skill contains the lessons learned from the Hordaland Model. The handbook shows how focusing on closing the gap within skill-training can have secondary effects such as: improved services and better working environment for staff.

Measures aimed at parents

Parents play an important role in their children’s choice of education!

• Parents (together with their “children”) from minority groups are invited every year to information-meetings before applications are made to an upper secondary school.

WHY? To ensure good information about the schools and the choices available, interpreters are used.

• The results are high attendance by the parents. This year interpreters in 15 different languages were used to convey this information. 170 pupils and parents followed the meetings.

www.vilbli.no• National webpage with info

also to minority applicants

• translated into 18 different languages

Measures aimed at pupils

• Language and communication are key factors.

• One goal is to strengthen Norwegian language teaching.

• Pupils are offered a web-based Norwegian course Veien fram. This course is based on the existing curriculum and offers modules both for pupils preparing for higher education as well as vocational education.

• Pupils can work on the course Veien fram by themselves and use the course independently or combined with general Norwegian courses.

• Approximately 30 schools in Hordaland currently use this programme. Web address: www.minvei.no

• National web address: www.morsmal.no

Separate classes for minority students

• First year ”Healthcare, childhood and youth development” (vocational)

• 3 years «Specialization in general studies for minoritystudents»

In order to succeed in my new society, I need to attain good language skill and to complete my education.