In 2021, migrants made up approximately 14 percent of the population in Denmark, while some urban areas had much higher percentages (Danmarks Statistik, 2021). While the percentage of students with another first language than the language of instruction is not particularly high in Denmark compared to other EU-countries such as Austria or Germany the results in the PISA-study continuously showed an exceptionally worrying gap between students with and without migration background (Borgonovi 2018). The purpose of this presentation is to describe and analyse, how and in which ways teacher education in Denmark has reacted to these results. The presentation is based on document analyses of various documents. The documents are 1) legal documents on teacher education in Denmark 2) curriculum descriptions of specific modules in TE, and 3) official documents on migration and migrant language education. Since the movement of migrant workers to Denmark in the 1970s, there has been a strong political, ministerial and educational focus on preparing adult migrants and their children for Danish society. The acquisition of the Danish language (from the late 1990s defined as Danish as a second language) has been consistently highlighted in legal documents and political discourse as a decisive factor for the integration of adult migrants and their children. As an implication of the efforts to teach Danish as a second language in school and adult education, comprehensive continuing education courses and in-service training systems for primary and lower secondary school teachers working with migrant children were introduced in the 1990s. In adult education teachers have to pass a 60 ects credit point education in second language pedagogy and intercultural knowledge in order to teach adult migrants since 1999. Concerning the teacher education curriculum, in 2006, an optional subject “Danish as a second language” was introduced covering 30 ects credit points. Soon afterwards in 2013, the subject Danish as a second language was made compulsory for all teacher education students, however now as a compulsory 10 ECTS module (Petersen 2017). While it can be seen as a success story that all teacher students are required to build up competences in this field with a considerable number of hours devoted to that the most recent developments are less promising. Recently a committee overlooking the teacher education order from 2013 was suggesting to reduce the compulsory Danish as a second language module to 5 Ects credit points (Wulf, 2021).

Borgonovi, F. (2018), "How do the performance and well-being of students with an immigrant background compare across countries?", PISA in Focus, No. 82, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a9e8c1ab-en Danmarks Statistik (2021). [Migrants in Denmark] Indvandrere i Danmark. Available at: https://www.dst.dk/Site/Dst/Udgivelser/GetPubFile.aspx?id=34714&sid=indv2021 Petersen, K. B. (2017). Preparation of student teachers for multicultural classrooms : reflections on the Danish teacher education curriculum. Journal of the International Society for Teacher Education, 21 (1), 45-54. Wulf, L. (2021). [Halving Danish as a second language in the new teacher education] Halvering af dansk som andetsprog i den ny læreruddannelse. Folkeskolen.dk, Retrieved from: www.Folkeskolen.dk/1884945/halvering-af-dansk-som-andetsprog-i-den-ny-laereruddannelse