Migrant Mentorship Model Erasmus Project

Project Title

Migrant Mentorship Model

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Integration of refugees; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

Migrants arriving in EU face linguistic, cultural and social barriers that make their integration slow and stressful. These new types of learners also present a challenge to educators. In MMM project new educational tools/approaches were offered to migrants and educators.

We developed an innovative approach for teaching of literacy, mathematical skills, ICT skills and social competences, tailored to migrants. Our practice saw a migrant exclusively in a passive role of a learner and has proven relatively inefficient so far. For this reason we focused on the migrants’ active participation. Migrants living in local communities for a longer period of time who know both: the culture of the host country and life experience of new immigrants, have been placed in the role of curriculum designers and programme providers.

During a 40-hour programme we trained 3-5 migrant mentors in each country. The migrant mentors were well integrated migrants who then in a 96-hour pilot programme transferred their knowledge to the newly arrived migrants.
The mentors helped new migrants obtain basic knowledge of host-country language and basic skills needed for learning/integration. By using migrant languages they explained often abstract concepts more directly and efficiently. In this way the migrants were able to put new knowledge in cultural and social context.
New migrants then took part in a 32-hour evaluation in the workplace to test their new skills in real life environment.
The entire process was closely monitored by guided reflection. Migrant mentors and partner staff followed determined guidelines to observe key elements of the mentoring and evaluation process and they incorporated their observations into intellectual outputs. With questionnaires they assesed various aspects of the pilot programme.
5 intellectual outputs were created:
– MMM Teaching Plan
– MMM Migrant Mentors Training curriculum
– Guided Reflection and Tips for Educators
– Guided Reflection and Recommendations for Employers
– Efficiency Study

Before the end of the project we saw the first sustainable effects.
The training of the migrant mentors and the implementation of the pilot were carried out at the Werkstatt-Berufskolleg in Unna. The work of migrant mentors is now part of their curriculum. Now already the 3rd generation of migrant mentors has started their training. They have time and an office to give advice. In the 2nd half 2019 of the school year more than 100 new refugees came for this peer consultation.

The umbrella organisation of the Werkstatt-Berufskolleg has further developed the MMM idea. The city of Unna has traditionally welcomed migrants for more than 50 years. A memorial path to the former flats of the first migrants is to be developed, and a so-called “stumbling block” is to be walled into the path at the houses of these first migrants. One can follow this path with an audio guide or be guided by former migrants who tell the stories of these families. These guides are trained in the methodology of the MMM project.

In Germany the Bundesinstitut für Berufliche Bildung, Bonn, showed interest in MMM and in the future INIBIA will report in Bonn about it.

At the Slovenian multiplier event CPI Institure of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training showed interest in MMM. Both Slovenian and German institutes are developing a catalog of skills for national vocational qualification of a migrant mentor, so the lessons of MMM are crucial to this. Cooperation at national level in both countries was established and a step towards the secured national funding of the state approved qualification was made.
Other organizations from both, educational and employment sector, also expressed their and intention to make use the intellectual outputs.

Two articles about the project in E-novičke, an expert newsletter of Andragoški center Slovenije, also aroused the interest of experts. We had productive debates with them about the proper terminology of the outputs and agreed on further cooperation.

At Italian multiplier event there were many requests from stakeholders for more information. Two Italian entrepreneurs requested a meeting to discuss the possible implementation of the guidelines in their company.
Every year EUROCULTURA hosts about 250 students from EU and non-EU countries that serve as interns in local enterprises. They have a network of over 120 companies. From January 1st 2020, EUROCULTURA will provide all existing and future partner companies with results developed in the the project (IO4). Next step will be to reach an agreement with the local Crafts Chamber to provide the guidelines to all business in the province of Vicenza (25.214 enterprises).
The results of pilot training will benefit foreign students, who are learning Italian according to the methodology developed in the project. The migrant mentors’ curriculum will be implemented by some Italian NGOs EUROCULTURA is cooperating with.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 208860 Eur

Project Coordinator

Andragoski zavod Maribor – Ljudska univerza & Country: SI

Project Partners

• Institut für Internationale Bildungs- und Arbeitsmarktprojekte
• OZARA STORITVENO IN INVALIDSKO PODJETJE DOO
• Eurocultura