More effort needed to integrate foreign children

Faroese schools ought to consider new measures to help pupils from outside of Europe settle in the Faroe Islands.

This is the view of Annbritt Toftegaard, principal of the elementary school in Giljanes, Vágar, who is planning a three-month trial project at her school in which an interpreter will assist pupils who are from outside of Europe.

The aim is to make it easier for the child and its family to integrate into Faroese society.

“I have looked at some of the research in this field, and it has shown me that if we show more interest in their background, their religion and their culture, children from outside of Europe will feel more at home here in the Faroes,” says Toftegaard.

She adds that too many non-European pupils in Faroese schools struggle in their new culture, and that the current provisions of extra language training are not enough to solve this problem.

“There is not enough focus on properly integrating these children and their families, and we are not sufficiently well organised in meeting this challenge. Learning a new language is only part of the solution.”

Translated by prosa.fo