Inclusion at schools and

student entrepreneurshipIn Norway

Ada Faroppa Furnes Språkservice

Agenda

1. Some background information

2. What happens when the children start school

3. During the years at school

4. Students entrepreneurship

Social dimension of the language• Norway is a multilingual country in which many languages

are spoken. Norwegians are plulingual people who speak and/or understands several languages.

• By the end of compulsory education (10 years), all young people have at least:

- An ability to read and write in two varieties of Norwegian (Nynorsk and Bokmål)

- An ability to use a spoken variety of Norwegian and understand other people speaking their own

varieties

- Productive and receptive competence in written and spoken English

- Receptive competence in spoken and written forms of Swedish and Danish

Additional language competence

• Competence in at least one variety of Sami• Competence in one of the many recently

arrived languages (often from another continent and language family)

• Competence in a second foreign language (French, German, Spanish)

• Much of this linguistic wealth is taken for granted and underestimated

Background information about immigration

• In Norway there are about 12 percent foreigners.

• In Oslo about 28 percent foreigners. • There are schools in Oslo with almost no

Norwegians• There are schools in Oslo where the pupils

starting school doesn`t understand Norwegian• Some pupil disappear

Background information about handicapped pupils

• There are 52.000 pupils at elementary school in Norway with special education

• In 1991 there was a reform for handicapped in Norway with aim inclusion (living, school, work)

• Currently the government is evaluating the reform. One conclusion is that the pupils today are less integrated at schools than in 1991

Handicapped pupils

• Some schools have special classes• Each handicapped pupil has his own program to

follow• The parents decide if the child should go to special

classes or ordinary classes• Pupils with only minor disability, are quite often

partly integrated in the normal classes• Special classes covers similar situation

independent from age of the pupil• The pupil has often the right to go to school in taxi

What happens when children starts school

• 4-years old – test of all children• Children that don`t understand Norwegian is

followed up• Areas with lots of foreigners have discount at

kindergarden (free core time – 4 hours/day)• Pupils that don`t speak Norwegian get extra

lessons

During school

• Every school is obliged to have a counselor• The counselor has pedagogic education• All follow up according to inclusion (language,

social, special needs, problems etc) is included in the counselor`s job

Students entrepreneurship

• During school teamwork is motivated• Some secondary schools have

entrepreneurship as a subject• Earn money for a school trip or a good case

(Operasjon dagsverk)• Studentbedrift – Pedagogic program that

establishes a real company with help from school and local business

Concluding remarks