The SIRIUS Network with the ‘Multi-country Partnership to Enhance the Education of Refugee and Asylum-seeking Youth in Europe’ (PERAE) propose a partnership between eight countries to address inadequate access to quality education for asylum-seeking and refugee youth throughout the European Union. The recent drastic rise in asylum applicants has placed increased pressure on Member States to develop strategies for effectively integrating new arrivals into society. Research has shown that education is one of the most important paths to the structural integration of young asylum seekers and refugees because they have particular social and emotional needs that quality education can help them overcome. The project will contribute to filling these three gaps in the participating countries. The project ''Exchange of knowledge and good practice to enhance the education of refugee and sylum seeking youth'' (hereafter referred to as the RefuEdu project), is scheduled to run from (Sep 2016 to Apr 2017) and is based on the ongoing (Jan 2016 to Feb 2017) project PERAE that analyses the challenges that refugee and asylum seeking youth face in accessing and succeeding in education from an empirical point of view. The resulting analysis will identify challenges that youth face finds good practices in addressing those challenges and provide an overview of the interaction between the profile of each education system (with a focus on secondary education) and the migrants within it. The findings of the project compiled within national and a transnational comparative report will contribute to the initiation of transnational sharing of experience and good practice and to the development of policy and practice tools. This will be implemented through:- transnational mutual learning activities where stakeholders (school staff, decision makers, volunteers, social workers) will learn and exchange about good practices in refugee education,- a policy and practice Handbook on refugee and asylum seeker youth' education with indicators to track the adoption and implementation of the recommendations for practitioners and policy makers dealing with the education of refugees and asylum seeking youth in policy and practice. - an international dissemination conference, stakeholders from all countries, from the EU level as well as representatives of refugee and asylum seeking youth will participate in the conference. The desired impact of the RefuEdu is to increase and improve ability of education stakeholders to deal with the particular situation refugee and asylum seeking youth are faced with, respond to their needs and support them in the development of their potentials. In addition,increased and improved ability of policy makers to respond to the particular situation refugee and asylum seeking youth are faced with through the formulation of policies which abandon barriers and foster the fast integration of this group into European education systems. At the European level the projects desires to increase and improve networking and cooperation among education stakeholders from different EU countries, increased awareness on the EU level about barriers in refugee and asylum seeking youth' education and potentials to eliminate these barriers (including the possibility to plan steps for policy responses based on the findings and recommendations). The main long-term intended impact of this project is the provision of equal and equitable education for refugee and asylum seeking youth in the participating countries and other EU countries.The objectives of the project are:- to facilitate the exchange of experience and good practice in refugee education among different groups of stakeholders (school staff, policy makers, NGOs, governmental organizations, refugee and asylum seeking youth) and among different countries,- to generate mutual learning effects in refugee education,- to increase the ability of stakeholders to apply functioning methods and strategies for the support of the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth across European countries,- to increase multi-stakeholder and transnational cooperation in the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth.These objectives will lead in the long term to equal and equitable opportunities in education for refugee and asylum seeking youth in Europe.The project will be carried out transnationally because it aims at a transnational exchange and transnational networking across the EU. The findings will be applicable also in other EU countries, which are not part of this project.
Context and Objectives The central topic of the Erasmus+ strategic partnership project ''Exchange of knowledge and good practice to enhance the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth'' (hereafter referred to as RefuEdu) is refugee education. The drastic rise in asylum applicants in recent years has placed increased pressure on EU Member States to develop strategies for effectively integrating newly arrived migrants into society. A record number of over 1.2 million first time asylum seekers registered in 2015 (Eurostat, 2015). Almost 30% of those were children. The provision of equal educational chances remains a challenge in the educational contexts of EU Member States with young people with a migrant background being found at a particular disadvantage. Research has shown that education is one of the most important paths to the structural integration of refugees and young asylum seekers (RAS). Currently there is insufficient understanding of the challenges that these youth face and inadequate transnational sharing of knowledge regarding potential solutions. The objectives of the RefuEdu project are to facilitate the exchange of experience and good practice in refugee education among different groups of stakeholders and among different countries and to generate mutual learning effects in refugee education. Also, to increase the ability of stakeholders to apply functioning methods and strategies for the support of the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth across European countries and promote multi-stakeholder and transnational cooperation in the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth. Thereby, the main goal of the project is to enhance the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth in Europe. Number and profile of participating organisations The project group consists out of nine organizations from seven European countries. Profiles are universities, NGO’s, research institutes and expertise centers all active in the fields of migration and integration. Description of the main activities We organized 3 transnational learning events (LTT) where stakeholders (school staff, decision makers, volunteers, social workers) exchanged good practices and effective policies in refugee education in their countries. Also, we produced 1 Intellectual Output: 1) A policy and practice handbook on refugee and asylum seeker youth' education with indicators to track the adoption and implementation of the recommendations for practitioners and policy makers dealing with the education of refugees and asylum seeking youth in policy and practice. In addition, we had 4 Transnational Partner meetings. Results and impact attained - In total, 100 project participants from different groups of stakeholders and from 7 different EU countries have a raised awareness on experience and good practices as well as effective policies on the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth (RAS) in Europe. - Project participants have gained a greater understanding and knowledge of the barriers and potential solutions for the education of refugees and asylum seeking youth. - Increased opportunity for education stakeholders to build and strengthen network at both national and EU level. Thereby, increasing multi-stakeholder and transnational cooperation in the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth. -Increased ability of education stakeholders for actual implementation of functioning methods and strategies for the support of the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth across European countries. - The project generated mutual learning effects in refugee education through the exchange of knowledge between different stakeholders and sharing the project outcomes with a wider audience. The overall impact of the project is increased and improved ability of stakeholders to deal with the particular situation RAS are faced with, respond to their needs and support them in the development of their potentials. Also, increased and improved ability of policy makers to respond to the particular situation refugee and asylum seeking youth are faced with through the formulation of policies which abandon barriers and foster the fast integration of this group into European education systems. At the European level the projects increase and improve networking and cooperation among education stakeholders from different EU countries, increased awareness on the EU level about barriers in refugee and asylum seeking youth' education and potentials to eliminate these barriers (including the possibility to plan steps for policy responses based on the findings and recommendations). Longer-term benefits The main long-term intended benefit of this project is the provision of equal and equitable education for refugee and asylum seeking youth in the participating countries and other EU countries.