Denmark: Ethnic bullying not a problem

Denmark: Ethnic bullying not a problem

German children are harassed by their Muslim classmates, but principals and researchers in Denmark say the problem is much smaller there.

According to the "Copenhagen barometer" (Københavnerbarometeret) study of schoolchildren in Copenhagen, Muslim immigrant children are more involved in bullying than Danish children, but there's no issues of general discrimination. In fact, non-Danish children are subjected to bullying more than Danish children, and the studies don't show who bullies who.


The Exbus research group, which deals with bullying in school, says they don't see the German trend in Denmark, says Nina Hein, a Phd student and researcher of bullying.

Hein says she knows a lot about bullying, but she never encountered this problem in Denmark, and its' not something they've discussed.

Rådmandsgade School in Nørrebro, is one of the schools in Copenhagen with the highest percentage of New Danish students. They say bulling among students is an everyday occurence, but it's a problem they're dealing with, says school inspector Lise Egholm.

Egholm says it happens, but she doesn't think it's very widespread. There were several situations where Danish boys were called 'potato Danes', but they dealt with the problem. The problem sometimes rears its ugly head, but they deal with it every day." (see also: Norway/Sweden: When the locals become a minority)

She rejects the idea that there's general discrimination of Danish children, as is happening in Germany. She says that in Rådmandsgade school they spend 30 hours a week with the children on conduct, contact and well-being and there are four teachers who are trained in conflict management, so they have many resources to stop bullying, and there is not a lot of discrimination, though they have many black-haired children. In fact, she says the school is much better equipped to deal with bullying than schools without ethnic children.

Source: Berlingske (Danish)