Preschool children of non-Western parents are inferior to the Danish and have poorer social skills than children of Danish parents, the study of 13,000 children in Denmark
A five-year child of non-Western parents have averaged less developed empathy, are less able to cooperate and find it harder to express his feelings than a three-year child of Danish parents.
It is one of the conclusions in the report
Children’s early development and learning, which is published by a research team from the University of Aarhus, University of Southern Denmark and Ramböll.
Information has spoken with three of the researchers behind the report, which agree that the results are "extremely worrying":
"In the short term it may mean that the non-Western children are less able to actively participate in the community in the kindergarten. It can mean a lot for their well-being in day care, but research shows that it may also have long-term consequences for their learning in school. When we already three-five years of age may see such great differences between Western and non-Western children, it is extremely worrying, "said Hanne Nielsen, who is the manager at Ramboll.
Professor Dorthe Bleses from Aarhus University agrees:
"I do not think this is surprising for the educators who work with children on a daily basis. But for many others it can be spectacular. There are marked differences in these groups of children, it is important that we are aware of when we are going forward to develop educational practice in Denmark. "
On average, the non-Western children a level of development that is lower than the one two years younger child of Danish parents. The difference between the two groups remains significantly up to femethalvtårsalderen, which is the oldest group of children included in the study. There is, according to the report no evidence to suggest that children of non-Western parents seek the Danish children’s level of competence against the school.
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