In Europe, the social and educational inclusion of people with a migrant background is a crucial issue. Moreover, those experiencing such conditions face additional layers of discrimination, based on socio-economic conditions, gender identity, religious affiliation, and more.
In school settings in particular, these factors, added to unfavorable conditions or systemic barriers, can result in high dropout rates. For example, male and female students with migrant backgrounds in socio-economically disadvantaged conditions may have to deal with bureaucratic barriers. They might receive with much delay, or not at all, recognition of degrees acquired in their countries of origin. Or there could be economic barriers: insufficient funds to buy necessary school tools and books, or the need to join the job at the earliest opportunity to support their families.
In this regard, some data from the desk research carried out in the three countries of the In&In Education partnership, Italy, Spain and Greece, are interesting. Indeed, in 2022 Italy ranks fifth among EU countries for early school leavers, with a dropout rate among foreign girls and boys of 35.4% compared to 13.1% among natives (source VITA).
Precisely in the face of these alarming data, In&In Education aims to foster the educational and social inclusion of boys and girls of migrant origin through an intersectional approach. This involves accounting for the various aspects that are part of the existence of a person and the ways in which these intersect and can represent a disadvantage or a privilege in a given social context
Therefore, collaboration among partner associations has resulted in creating resources and tools that promote inclusion processes, specifically:
- A Mapping of resources and good practices in the cities of Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), Palermo (Italy) and Athens (Greece) useful for fostering processes of inclusion of migrant individuals, will be shared to teachers and families;
- An online training course for teachers is currently under development: combining the different expertise within the consortium, the course will focus on schools’ paths of migrant students, early school leaving, and the measures to contrast school’s drop out. The course will be directed at teachers and educators in schools of all school’s levels and will provide teaching resources and materials useful for promoting inclusive educational practices in schools. At the end of the course, teachers will see strengthened their knowledge on the migrant students’ conditions and in experimenting some approaches for an inclusive school environment that considers the specific needs of these students. Access to the course will be free of charge and can be conducted autonomously: once the modules and the self-assessment course are completed, those enrolled will be able to download a certificate of participation.
- In order to collect the experiences of migrant people, interviews were conducted with men and women living in the 3 countries of the partnership. They shared their testimonies from personal, educational and professional perspectives. A video is in the works in which all the collected testimonies will converge, and it will be presented to male and female students attending secondary school. The moment will be an opportunity to raise awareness, including publicly addressing the issue of discrimination, which with prejudice and stereotypes plagues migrant people. The video will be accompanied by a teacher’s guide containing instructions on its use as an educational resource in the classroom to promote interculturality and inclusion.
Watch the video with testimonies from people with migration backgrounds living in Italy!
If you are a teacher and are interested in In&In Education’s activities and training course, contact Emna Miled: emna.miled@cesie.org.
About the project
In&In Education – Inclusive education with an intersectional approach, for the school success of Girls and Boys of migrant origin is a project funded by the program Erasmus+: KA220-SCH – Cooperation partnerships in school education.
Partners
- FOUNDATION INTERED (Spain, Coordinator)
- KENTRO MERIMNAS OIKOGENEIAS KAI PAIDIOU (Greece)
- UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA (Spain)
- Regional Directorate for Primary and Secondary Education of Attica (Greece)
- CESIE (Italy)
For further information
Read more about In&In Education visit the web site: https://in-education.eu/it/.
Contact Emna Miled: emna.miled@cesie.org.
