Education meets migration Erasmus Project

Project Title

Education meets migration

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 : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Integration of refugees; Health and wellbeing; Migrants’ issues

Project Summary

At the time of the project application in 2016, Europe was at the height of the refugee crisis. A great number of the many migrants, asylum seekers and refugees were young, school aged children and youth. This fact substantially affected the educational settings and school environments. Our main idea was to to explore and concentrate on inclusion of these groups. The countries involved in the project all had different roles in the migration flow, some were transit countries, some were destination countries.

The objectives of the project included developed and shared:
– the notion that racial prejudice is an unacceptable element
– good practices related to migrant integration within schools
– Intercultural dialogue acceptance of diversity for successful life integration learning from each other.
– improved pedagogical practice
– schools taking an active role in society.

Five parties joined in the project, one primary school, one lower secondary school, two upper secondary schools and one University. All of them in one way or the other affected by the migration.

The main activities have been putting up a help box (Denmark, Italy) for students to put notes in. Especially in Italy the help box gave the (foreign) students a voice, stating that integration is more difficult outside school than inside. Because of this, this school now starts afternoon classes in Italian and Maths, most participants will be immigrants.

The danish school established a “Danish as a foreign Language” course entitled High School Danish L2, a partnership between Køge Gymnasium and CDI – Centre of Danish and Integration in Køge. The students taught are on the one hand international exchange students. The other half are young refugees mainly from Syria, Eritrea and Nigeria. Once their Danish skills are good enough to participate in other subjects, they are placed in full-time classes.

In Slovenia, because of the project, they have put up an introductory course before the beginning of the school year, an integration programme (linguistic and social inclusion) for immigrant students and their parents. Now the school will give more focus to extracurricular activities in the school and outside.

As part of the project the Turkish partner developed a questionnaire, where teachers from the 5 Erasmus+ partners answered questions about what kind of problems immigrant students experience and teachers attitudes towards these students. The analysis of the responses was presented as a poster presentation at the 18th ECDP2017 congress in Utrecht, Netherlands. (ECDP = European Conference on Developmental Psychology). The project contact Prof. Dr. Müge Artar has attended local project meetings at the Ministry of education in Turkey as part of the integration of Syrian immigrant students, PICTES, and have given lectures and counselling to school principals about migration and psychosocial adaptation of immigrants. Ankara university, as part of a national pedagogical conference (program enclosed), hosted the LTT-activity. Childrens festival and panel presentations given by the four other partners were parts of this.

The Norwegian school wanted to find out more about the school’s students with migrant background, and found that the students had many common traits, regarding the students’ biography, geography, history, family situation. As a consequence, school initiatives have been meeting with parents, groups with social training (social counselor) once a week, conflict management, how to deal with and express feelings, discuss cultural issues, how to express your opinions. Also tasks in and after school, helping younger students, engage in voluntary work in the local community are activities now being implemented.

The project has had an impact on the school communities who were involved in the activities undertaken, immigrant students being part of almost every class in each partner school. The problems / issues highlighted were the ground for discussion and confrontation about how to help young immigrants integrate effectively. This meant not just better attitude from a human point of view, in order to avoid patronizing, pityful, compassionate attitudes, but rather a way to encourage motivation, success, dignity through better school results and concrete achievements which can increase a feeling of belonging to a community, a higher self-esteem. Secondly through the meeting with successful professional local people who arrived as immigrants and who prove how opportunities should be offered to and exploited by anyone who is able and motivated, notwithstanding geographical origins. The fact that the partners´ teaching approches have changed, becoming more sensitive to the issue, that contents in some curricula have been affected has had a great impact mainly on the immigrant students in the first place, then on teachers who have been challenged by new strategies and contents, and on students’ families.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 66955 Eur

Project Coordinator

Teigar lower secondary school & Country: NO

Project Partners

• ANKARA UNIVERSITESI
• JVIZ I. OS Rogaska Slatina
• Liceo Giuseppe Mazzini
• Køge Gymnasium