In the context of increased migration to European countries the VIME project will develop a model to optimise the use of volunteers working alongside, and in collaboration with, professionals within migrant language and literacy education provision. Language and literacy education is vital in supporting the integration of adult migrants. Not only because proficiency in the language and literacy of the host country are required for migrants to fully participate in society as citizens, employees and parents, but also because such provision plays an important role in the socialization of migrants, supporting them in understanding and participating in their new society. VIME will identify specific roles that volunteers can play in the language and literacy learning of migrants, describe the competences required for these roles and design training packages for each role.The partners are from the Netherlands, Uk, Slovenia and Denmark; all of the organisations are experienced in working with migrant education and in the use of volunteers in such provision. The partners will work in three circles with a central circle formed of a small group of expert organisations with great knowledge and expertise in second language learning, experience in research, concepts of ‘train the trainer’, the second circle consists of partners with rich experience in the use of professionals and volunteers in migrant language and literacy education. The involvement of the second circle partners will ensure that outputs are of practical use and are appropriate for a wide range of contexts in migrant language and literacy education. The third circle of partners not receive funding, but will act as critical friends, engaging with the project through multiplier events and will be interested expertise centres, policy makers and/or providers from other countries than the partner countries. The proposed three-circle structure will maximise the efficiency of the development process, facilitating the development of a model that brings value for all European countries.The target groups of the project are volunteers and professional teachers working in migrant language and literacy education, providers of such provision, policymakers and adult migrant learners.In the initial stage of the project we will carry out desk research and qualitative research with learners, volunteers and professionals to develop role descriptors and competence profiles for these roles as well as screening tools for migrant education providers to select appropriate volunteers and training packages to support the volunteers in carrying out the specified roles. In this stage we will also develop guidance for volunteers and professional teachers in modes of cooperation and a model for policy development regarding the deployment of professional staff and volunteers in migrant language and literacy education. The tools will be piloted by second circle partners and adjusted following evaluation feedback. Accordingly the development of the model, tools and guides will be theoretically grounded as well as quality assured by First, Second and Third Circle partners.The direct impact of VIME will initially be on the capacity of partner organisations to provide quality language education to migrants. The primary beneficiaries of the project will of course be the migrants who will benefit from more focused, informed and professional interventions from partner organisations and the volunteers they work with. As noted above, such education programmes are vital in supporting migrants in integrating into their new society. As such the long term benefits of VIME will be felt in improved social cohesion through improved educational outcomes for the children of migrants; greater productivity of migrant workers, both within individual work roles and by supporting them to meet their full economic potential; and improved engagement of migrants with civic issues such as local and national democracy, community schemes and efficient use of government services. Engagement of Third Circle partners in different European countries will ensure that this impact is felt beyond the four partner countries.
The integration of migrants is one of the greatest current challenges facing Europe. In our globalised world, migration is a fact of life. Migrants are crucial for the future of many European countries, to meet gaps in the workforce as well as to reverse negative trends in birth rates. In order to support their full integration and avoid social exclusion, migrants should be supported in participating in the labour market and civic society. Learning the language of the host country is an urgent precondition for such participation, and in this, language education has a key role to play. Without mastery of the host language they face greater barriers to integration, diminishing their economic potential and creating additional costs for public services such as health and social care, education, crime, and local government. To meet the demand for migrant language education there is a need for greater numbers of trained educators. However, the scale of need, and restrictions on national education budgets, means that it may be necessary to rethink our approach to the language education of adult migrants and look beyond the formal classroom. Volunteers can play a number of important roles in supporting or supplementing the formal language learning of adult migrants. There are nine partners from four different countries: the Netherlands, the UK, Slovenia and Denmark. All of the organisations are experienced in working with migrant education and in the use of volunteers in such provision. The partners can be profiled as NGOs, university, local educational (volunteer)organisations and researchers in the field of language education. The target groups of the project are volunteers and professional teachers working in migrant language and literacy education, providers of such provision, policymakers and adult migrant learners. In the initial stage of the project we carried out desk research and qualitative research with learners, volunteers and professionals to understand the contexts in which volunteers were involved in the migrant language education process and the roles that they played. Following this desk research we agreed an overall framework for the outputs of the project (IO1 – Framework); this document has informed the development of the other outputs on the project. We also developed role descriptors and competence profiles for the identified roles, a screening tool for migrant education providers to select appropriate volunteers, and training modules (with trainer guidance) to support the volunteers in carrying out the specified roles. The training modules and screening tool were piloted with volunteers in the four countries. The pilots were evaluated and the lessons from the four countries were synthesized. These informed the development of the final versions of the training modules and screening tool. We also developed an information guide for policy-makers and another for practitioners. In the first year of the project, we focused on developing the framework and (concept) model to identify specific roles and tasks for volunteers. We started by selecting target groups of different stakeholders to be interviewed and developing the guidelines for those interviews. Then the team members interviewed 16 – 24 stakeholders in each country of the project (Slovenia, Denmark, UK and The Netherlands), and used these as a basis for the development of the framework and the concept model. In April 2017 the first four ME took place to disseminate the framework and concept model more thoroughly in our countries and to improve the model with the intention to come up with a model which is easy to use for those we develop it for. We subsequently gathered feedback on the model from others by means of dissemination activities and consultation with Third Circle members and used this information to improve the model. We also produced draft outlines of the eight training modules; a Selection Tool (with a learner typology incorporated) in order to assign a suitable role to a volunteer and match volunteers and learners. At the October 2017 London transnational project meeting we finalised the Framework and Model as well as the Selection Tools. We also agreed on the content of the eight Training Modules and produced deliverable training modules in the national languages of the project partners. These were piloted in each of the four countries between January to April 2018. The pilots were evaluated and assessed at the penultimate project meeting in Zalec in April 2018, where decisions were also made about the process to arrive at the final versions of the project outputs. At the Zalec meeting we also discussed first drafts of the information guides for policy-makers and practitioners. At the final project meeting in Utrecht we agreed final versions for each of the specified intellectual outputs and send all pre-final product to our Third Circle partners to receive their feedback and investigate the value of our product for thei