ABSTRACT
Within the last 20 years, the number of children with ethnic-minority background in the Danish folkeskole (municipal primary and lower secondary schools) has increased from 13,457 in 1986-1987 to 57,523 in 2003-2004 (Ministry of Education, 2004; Ministry of the Interior, 1998), making up approximately 10% of all pupils. We use the term ethnic-minority children as synonymous with the term bilingual children. Over time, the terminology has shifted a number of times reflecting inclusiveness or exclusiveness. For example, in 1976, the official definition was foreign-language-speaking children. Today the legally binding definition is "Bilingual children are children who have another mother tongue than Danish and who will learn Danish when coming in contact with the surrounding society or in school" {Law About the Danish Folk School, Section 4a, 1.2, 1995).
