Migration and Integration in Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Migration and Integration in Europe

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

Migration and integration in Europe

The background of this project was the current crisis of migration that Europe is presently experiencing. All participating countries in the project – Germany, France, Latvia and Poland – face varieties of the same challenges.

We all agreed that migration causes both problems as well as new possibilities and it is our strong conviction that we ought to meet those challenges both on an international an on a local level.

Young people today require transversal competences such as knowledge about the varying reasons for immigration and information about what conditions and challenges the different countries in Europe are currently experiencing to fully become European citizens.

An exchange of best practices in different communities and countries is vital. Since this situation is not a temporary one, a long-term perspective was required in this approach.

The central topic of (im)migration and integration was tackled from four different points of view:
– personal perspectives
– legislation for immigration §
– social integration
– immigration for education

The objectives of the project were
– to elaborate on
– to establish and
– to implement
manageable methods that in the long run will facilitate the (mutual) integration of new European citizens. In this exchange we were primarily focusing on the strengths of the different school systems.

In schools, many newly arrived immigrants experience a strong feeling of isolation.
They have to face the double challenge of both learning a new language and getting to know a new culture in which they are learning at the same time.

Exchanging experiences between teachers and students and also different European countries – on a transversal – raised the awareness of common European values; values such as: freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination.
By practicing foreign languages and intercultural competences, young people evolve communication skills, empathy and a mutual understanding. In the long run, this facilitates a more inclusive and tolerant climate, primarily on municipal levels, but also in the school family. Working actively with the issue of migration will also result in more welcoming and attractive schools plus add to a more competent group of staff when it comes to dealing professionally with the concepts of multiplicity and integration.
The almost 400 students who participated in the project were at 15 years old and were from so called “full-time” classes A-Level and FHR. The 34 participating teachers teach the following subjects: social studies, religion, history, politics, modern languages, economy and hence are experts within these fields. Most of them also had experience from working with similar projects in the past, which also led to some lovely reunions on the teachers’ side.

In the times between the three meetings abroad all participating schools worked on the same set of questions which were embedded in their respective lesson plans. The host prepared a presentation of these results for the first workshop to have a common starting ground for the workshops.

A transversal co-operation like this culminated in the here mentioned methods on how to continue working with these issues in a long-term perspective. The methods we used were:
Interviews, verbal presentations, exhibitions, group work, debates, Internet research and investigation. Due to the digital meeting and the creative students we also added videos and vlogs into the methods.

Further results were:
– raised awareness for the different aspects of migration and integration
– increased interest and factual knowledge in these four fields
– promotion of activities aiming at integration and multiculturalism
– usage of foreign languages as lingua franca and means of communication in authentic situations

These results were aimed to improve the integration of new citizens in the different European countries and to strengthen an identity of European citizenship amongst participants.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 98133,4 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kaufmännisches Berufskolleg Duisburg-Mitte & Country: DE

Project Partners

• OGEC AEP PRADEAU LA SEDE
• Deutsch-Polnische Begegnungsschule Willy-Brandt-Schule in Warschau
• Rigas Valsts vacu gimnazija