INTEGRATING IMMIGRANTS INTO SOCIETY THROUGH INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN EDUCATION Erasmus Project

Project Title

INTEGRATING IMMIGRANTS INTO SOCIETY THROUGH INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN EDUCATION

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Migrants’ issues

Project Summary

Migration; the temporary or permanent relocation of individuals or communities of people from one place to another for various reasons. (Hagen-Zanker, 2008) As a result of this mobility, they encounter different cultures and the necessity of living together with people from different cultures raises important problems regarding harmony and conflict. One of the groups most affected by these problems is children. 22.6 percent of migrants in developing countries are between 0-19 years old.(BM,2013). For example, according to UNICEF September 2015, the number of children constitutes 54% of the total number of immigrants. When we reflect this number to our partner cities, 3.5% to 11.5% of the population in our partner provinces are immigrants and the majority belongs to school-age children. Immigrant children may be severely excluded from education due to social and cultural isolation, strenuous and dangerous jobs, extreme poverty, poor health conditions and language barriers. This is sometimes due to the educaion background they have received in their country, sometimes due to the traumas they experienced after the war, and sometimes because they do not know the local language of the host country. The problem is that still too many teachers lack the training, competences and experience with issues of migration and diversity, to work with refugee students and their particular needs, to teach the national language as a second language, to provide psychosocial guidance, and to enable connections with the prior education of students. Teachers should be able to meet the diverse needs of all students and foster tolerance, respect for diversity and civic responsibility. Most European countries had previously not comprehensively managed to adapt teaching methods and quality to the needs of diversifying classrooms. These challenges intensified with the arrival of large numbers of refugee students, The OECD (2014) finds that in many countries working with multicultural and multilingual students is among the areas that teachers feel the least prepared for.
These situations, which negatively affect education, and the measures to be taken increase the duties and responsibilities of the teachers who are responsible for managing the teaching process in the school. On the other hand, this mass migration; language, education system, cultural differences etc., the education of these children is affected negatively and the schools, students and teachers of the country of immigration are also affected negatively by the process that changes the demographic structure of the classroom.
In this project 3 participants for each partner school , will engage in exchage of the good practices, to help children cope with traumas, to ensure academic harmony and cultural integration, to prevent early school dropout, to eliminate language deficiency and to facilitate education with special materials and teaching techniques to be created so that refugee students can be brought to the community and prevent the mass problems. Our partners will share information about these areas in their fields of expertise, and the whole information and findings will be collected in a pool (the innovative methods to integrate immigrant students into society, rehabilitations ways for post-traumas, using games- social activities,art and collaborative events to participate with local students, feeling and improving emphaty by visiting refugee camps and visiting NGOs. Thus, it will be implemented in our education curricula to facilitate the education and integration of immigrant children in social life and to bring them into society.
The approaches and innovative methods to be used: Community -based approaches (teaching in multicultural classes) Collaborative art-based approach ( for symptoms of post trauma) , Hofstede’s cultual dimensions theory (cross-cultural communication-opening language preporatary classes), Flipped classroom-in blended learning (using digital tools and technology for late comers and for the situations that students may not follow the lessons regularly) , Creative drama as a tool for immigrant integration and social inclusion.
The importance and long term benefits of education on immigrants;
*National curricula and objectives, organized in line with the aims and objectives of this project, will help to establish a national unity and belonging to keep society together and tolerance will increase.
*Thanks to this project and the appealing curricula on education, they feel more comfortable and secure in the host country; as they have achieved significant gains in the field and reach a certain social environment. Thus, they have made important names for living in social tolerance and also (with their parents) want to continue their education.
*With an education addressing refugees, states keep the refugee community under control, to gain a common sense of belonging; so being involved in dangerous groups (terror) will decrease.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 96450 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zespol Szkol Nr 1 & Country: PL

Project Partners

• SEPUGS “Vasil Antevski Dren”
• Scoala Gimnaziala”Zaharia Stancu”
• ISTITUTO TECNICO INDUSTRIALE STATALE ALESSANDRO VOLTA
• Huzurkent Kazım Karabekir OrtaOkulu