Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2007, Side 5

08_REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 13_007_ARTICLE/EDUCATION
In the past three or four years, the influx of
immigrants in Iceland has increased steadily.
According to a study conducted by the Ice-
landic Statistical Bureau, the country’s immi-
grant population makes up close to 5% of
the country’s total population. With the influx,
however, comes the introduction of a group of
new young Icelanders, children of immigrants
assimilating to a new country, language and
culture; a group that this week will be heading
back en masse into elementary and secondary
schools around the country.
Around the capital district, many elemen-
tary schools say they have a clear-cut orienta-
tion process in place for students of foreign
descent entering the Icelandic school system.
Representatives of both Fellaskóli and Aus-
turbæjarskóli say that the schools have been
especially conscious in recent years to put forth
effort to fully integrate international students
into the system.
“We have a very clear reception process in
our school when it comes to receiving students
with foreign backgrounds,” says Kristín Jóhan-
nesdóttir, principal of Fellaskóli. You could say
that the student’s education has three parts:
There is the reception process, then there is
tutored instruction in Icelandic, and then Ice-
landic study in the class-system.”
In Fellaskóli, according to Jóhannesdóttir,
the reception process begins with a meeting
with the child, his/her parents, a representative
from the school’s International Students De-
partment, an academic advisor, a school nurse,
the principal, and a translator if necessary. The
student then begins a two-week orientation
program on an abbreviated daily schedule.
“This time is used to build up trust be-
tween the student and the teacher as well as
the student and other students,” says Jóhan-
nesdóttir. “We try to overcome their shyness
and emphasize a relaxed atmosphere in the
relationship. The teaching is individual-based
and that is to say aimed at the student’s ability.
The subjects covered in that time are first and
foremost about the student him/herself and
their most immediate environment.”
Building on Diversity
Nína Magnúsdóttir is the department chair
of the International Students Department at
Austurbæjarskóli, the self-proclaimed “moth-
er-school of diverse teaching.” According to
Magnúsdóttir, although foreign students take
Icelandic courses in the International Depart-
ment, the school is eager to integrate the kids
socially, as well as academically.
“We want to emphasize that which is
communal rather than that which isolates or
divides,” she says. “We emphasize the social
aspect and foreign students, from the first day,
spend as much time with a common class as is
possible. The teaching strategy builds on col-
laboration and teamwork where the students
work together and help each other out. Our
emphasis is on multicultural teaching that
builds on the idea that everyone has something
to offer and that being a foreign student is just
a facet of the school’s diversity.”
Jóhannesdóttir agrees, adding that integra-
tion process happens on several varying levels
within the school.
“It’s not just in the International Students
Department that they learn Icelandic,” Jóhan-
nesdóttir says. “The Icelandic language classes
are related and compatible to all the subjects.
The kids learn both within the Department
and in their other classes. It’s very important
that that is very clear, that they are not shut
up in some department, they are also out in
classes, and that’s where the other part of the
Icelandic instruction takes place.”
In both Fellaskóli and Austurbæjarskóli,
the orientation process ends only when the
student has been integrated fully into the
regular curriculum with the rest of their class.
Socially, however, the results of the school’s
efforts are slightly more vague.
“It is different with all the kids, and we are
very conscious of this,” says Jóhannesdóttir.
“But there is strength in numbers, and there are
many kids here who have immigrated from the
same country for example, and they connect
with each other first, and the kids who take
courses in the International Department, they
also tend to stick together a bit. We try to be
conscious of the social aspect, but we’re also
aware that these kids are maybe not going out
for sports as much. We try always to point it out
if kids have an interest in it, but not everyone
has that interest. People are different.”
The Daunting Numbers
In March of this year, the Intercultural Cen-
ter held a conference titled Immigrants and
Secondary School. Among a panel of experts
and elementary, and high school and univer-
sity instructors, Solveig Brynja Grétarsdóttir
presented the results of a research project
she recently completed as part of her MPaed-
degree at the University of Iceland.
The project was one of the first formal in-
vestigations into adolescents of foreign descent
in the Icelandic school system. The results of
the research were quite conclusive, as this was
the first formal investigation ever conducted on
this group. The research looked at 119 students
who were enrolled in summer day camp at The
Reykjavík Sports & Youth Council, ÍTR, in the
second half of the last decade. The camps are
a combination of courses and recreation activi-
ties, intended to integrate children aged 6-12
years old into Icelandic culture and language
before entering elementary school.
“We wanted to see people with a similar
base,” says Grétarsdóttir. “We got a list from
ÍTR but we knew very little background, we
didn’t know for example whether one of the
parents was Icelandic, but we had kids who
had at least been deemed in need of this sort
of preparation. We tried to choose a group
with similar circumstances. They are all from
the capital district, so we’re not picking this
up from all over the country.”
Of the original surveyed group, 64.7% have
dropped out of Menntaskóli, close to half of
that percentage having dropped out within
the first year, with most of the remaining never
having entered secondary school at all. Of the
small number of kids who have graduated or
who have been determined likely to graduate,
64% were girls.

Making the Language Their Own
The dropout rate stands in stark contrast to
that of native Icelandic Secondary School stu-
dents, which, according to Iceland’s Statistical
Bureau, hovers just around 15%. Grétarsdóttir
attributes the numbers to vulnerability in the
grasp of the language.
“The experts say that if the language isn’t
all right, then you can’t get much out of all the
other subjects. Kids are often quick to pick up
every-day language, they can go to the store
or manage in their friends group, but when it
comes to learning geography, then vocabulary
is quite different.”
Jóhannesdóttir says that she is well aware
of the importance of educating teachers to
deal with the special circumstances and diverse
needs of foreign students.
“There are students of foreign descent in
all of our classes, so it’s an issue that concerns
every teacher. We all take responsibility for that,
and all participate in making sure the student
makes the language his own and that’s why
we think it’s very important that all the teach-
ers in the school have a good understanding
of how they should adapt the curriculum and
work with foreign students in the classroom
setting.
“We try to have a lot of variety and we
have very specific methods to build up vocabu-
lary and practice pronunciation, and we have
them practice the language, and we work to
improve their reading skills and then of course
they work regularly on writing projects.”
As the resources for proper Icelandic educa-
tion for children is clearly available in at least
a few of the city’s elementary schools, in the
end it may just come down to confidence.
“It’s quite a big issue,” says Jóhannesdót-
tir, “overcoming this shyness and working up
their self-confidence, just to not be afraid to
say the words.”
Since the influx of immigrants is quite re-
cent, general statistical and social information
concerning immigrants and their children is still
scarcely available. Grétarsdóttir says that when
she began research on her thesis in April of
last year, no information was available on the
group from the Icelandic Statistical Bureau.
“Once I started talking to people and do-
ing my research the Bureau started to collect
information and statistics with a similar group.
I think both they and the ministry of education
were beginning to realize that it doesn’t make
any sense to receive people into this country
and not to know anything about them and
how to react to them or to receive them. I felt
it really pointed to the fact that some ball had
begun rolling.”
New Icelanders Build on Language
Text by Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir Photo by Gúndi
The dropout rate stands
in stark contrast to that
of native Icelandic Sec-
ondary School students,
which, according to Ice-
land’s Statistical Bureau,
hovers just around 15%.