Project Definition

Project title: Teaching Migrant Students

Acronym: TeaMS

Main objective of the project: Exchange of Good Practices

Project Total Duration: 24 months

Project Start/End Date: 15-10-2018/14-10-2020

Funding from the EU: € 163876.00

Topics: Inclusion - Equity

Migrants' issues

Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Strengthening the profile of the teaching profession

Partners:

  • Scuola Secondaria di primo grado Casavola-D'Assisi (Italy)

  • Suupanniityn koulu (Finland)

  • 3o GYMNASIO YMITTOU (Greece)

  • Agrupamento de Escolas de Perafita (Portugal)

  • INSTITUTO DE EDUCACIÓN SECUNDARIA "ÁGORA" (Spain)

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

CONTEXT AND MOTIVATION

One of the general objectives set by the 2000 Lisbon Summit was to improve active citizenship, equal opportunities and social cohesion. But how to realize this in a European society that is more ethnically and culturally mixed than ever? Through the years around 72 million migrants have made their home in Europe.

EU countries agree upon an easy access of immigrants and their children to education and training systems as a powerful instrument to prevent conflicts between people with different nationality, religion and background. Besides this, migrant students are more likely to drop out from compulsory education, leading to higher risks of social marginalization and, ultimately, to poverty.

As a matter of fact, introduction programmes for newly arrived immigrants, language training for immigrants and their participation in civic, cultural and political life, have been identified as priority areas in this respect.

Thus, considering the increasing number of immigrant children aged under 15, schools need to rethink classroom strategies in order to improve integration and cope with stereotypes.

The TeaMS (Teaching Migrant Students) project proposal has arisen from the increasing demand inside schools for extra methods, skills and strategies to use in multicultural classes, in order to foster integration of pupils with a migrant background, improve the quality of their education and seed acceptance of diversity. Multicultural diversity will represent the flag of the project, under which the planned activities will be carried out to make schools more inclusive, creative and open-­minded.

OBJECTIVES

In accordance with the objectives of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020) and the priorities of the Member States, on the basis of the needs revealed by recent comparative studies (EACEA P9 Eurydice, 2009; Sirius: Report on the professional capability in schools for education of migrant pupils, 2013), the project "TeaMS" intends to foster social integration through the reinforcement of the teaching quality addressed to pupils coming from a migrant background and through activities of cultural exchange among pupils of different ethnic groups and EU countries.

The project aims at supporting the professional development of school staff by providing specific training on diversity, intercultural pedagogy and language development during short term joint staff events. With respect to the students, it yearns for promoting common European values, social integration, enhancing intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community through non­-formal and informal learning activities and short term students exchanges.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES

The project's objectives will be achieved through the following activities:

• teachers' training in joint sessions on methodological tools for effective support of middle-­school children from culturally different or disadvantaged environments;

• exchange of good practices supporting pupils' education and motivation to study in intercultural classrooms;

• students' exchanges, addressed especially to students with a disadvantage or migrant background;

• non­-formal and informal learning activities for students carried out in each participating organization on the social, ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity

PARTICIPANTS

Each partner organization, five schools respectively from Italy, Finland, Greece, Portugal and Spain, will involve in the whole project the entire school: staff, pupils of 12-­13 years old and families. The total number of people taking part in the mobilities per organization will be: 5 teachers for the training and 20 students with 10 accompanying teachers.

The short term exchange will enable students, especially newly arrived migrants, to navigate multiple cultural worlds effectively and help them to redefine their own boundaries as UE citizens. Students will be fully engaged in the project through preparatory activities on the geographical, cultural and educational aspects of the partner countries, also involving their parents.

The most suitable teachers for the planned training will be chosen on the basis of their knowledge of English language and of their relational skills, as well as the personal motivation to the project objectives.

The approval of the partnership "TeaMS" in an article on Modugno online (2 ottobre 2018)