School development focusing on language in all teaching

In the summer 2012, the Danish Ministry of Education launched a development programme at 14 school
to improve the academic skills of bilingual students. This study provides an overall picture of the implementation process at the schools and an indication of whether the initiatives in the development programme have already had an effect on the academic results and wellbeing of pupils in the implementation phase.
The analysis of implementation of the development programme shows that patience is required before the transitional process can be expected to have its full effect with regard to more extensive competences and new practice in bilingual pedagogics.
With regard to the academic results of the pupils, the analyses show that there was an improvement in the academic results of the bilingual students at the 14 participating schools up to the start of implementation in summer 2012 and thereafter. However, the analyses do not give reason to conclude that the improvement can be attributed directly to the initiatives in the development programme.
The study is a first and preliminary evaluation of the development programme. In the summer 2016, the second and final report on the monitoring research analyses will follow up with an evaluation and status report, three years after the start of implementation.
The study has been commissioned and financed by the Danish Ministry of Education.