Schooling and support of educational achievement are one of the best, most effective migrant integration strategies. According to MIPEX 2015 education emerges as the greatest weakness in integration policies in most countries. In EU MS, children with migrant background tend to have lower educational performance and are more likely to leave school early than native children. In order to to enhance the access, participation and learning performance of newly arrived migrant and refugee children in primary school education in Germany, Greece, Italy, France & Cyprus that will promote their overall integration in the host societies, the proposed project will target: • teachers and school leaders and non-teaching staff • newly arrived migrant and refugee students • parents/families, especially of migrant and refugee students and specifically aim to: • Enhance the professional development of teachers in dealing with migrant and refugee learners and diversity in classrooms • Support schools to facilitate inclusion and success of newly arrived migrant and refugee students, thus contributing to the tackling of early school leaving (ESL) • Support and enhance the performance of newly-arrived migrant and refugee students in primary schools • Strengthen collaboration among all members of the school community (school leaders, teachers and non-teaching staff, learners, parents/families). The above will be achieved through the implementation of the following activities: 1. Development of learning modules for strengthening the capacities of teachers 1.1. Focus groups with teachers 1.2. Identification and definition of competences 1.3. Development of learning modules 1.4. Implementation of the learning modules and evaluation 2. Creation and pilot implementation of School Support Platform 2.1. Development of digital modules on diversity and inclusion for teachers 2.2. Development of online homework support component 2.3. Development of online space for teacher-parent communication 2.4. Creation of school blog development tool 2.5. Pilot implementation of the School Support Platform 3. Development of methodology for the elaboration of school policies on diversity 3.1. Development of the methodology 3.2. Provision of support to selected schools for the elaboration and implementation of diversity policy and action plan At local level the project will strengthen the capacities of pilot primary schools in Germany, Greece, Italy, France & Cyprus to manage diversity and to facilitate effective inclusion, support and success of newly arrived migrant and refugee students thus minimizing ESL risks in the longer term. It will also lead to improved academic performance of the newly arrived migrant and refugee students and potential access to further education. Moreover, it will strengthen the collaboration among all members of the school community (school leaders, teachers and non-teaching staff, learners, parents/families) in this process, which will have positive effects on the integration not only of the migrant and refugee children, but also of their families. The successful inclusion of newly arrived migrant children in the educational system can pre-empt later integration costs. Educational authorities at local, regional or national level will have access to improved tools which can be mainstreamed in the local, regional or national education systems to promote the inclusion of newly arrived migrant and refugee and to combat ESL (at local, regional or national level). By enhancing the participation and learning performance of migrant and refugee children in primary education, the project connects with other Erasmus+ and EU activity, since, as mentioned above, it will contribute to the Erasmus+ Programme objectives, to the objectives set by ET2020 of promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship and of improving the quality and efficiency of education and training, and the further implementation of EU education policy, as well as to the implementation of the Action Plan on the integration of third country nationals. The availability of the developed methodologies and the School Support platform in several languages (and the Platform’s continued operation), as well as their wide dissemination and transfer across schools, educational authorities and stakeholders at local/regional/national and European level will promote the impact of the project on EU MSs education systems and policies.
The E-COURSE project aims to improve the access, participation and learning performance of migrant and refugee children in primary schools in Germany, Greece, Italy, France and Cyprus, as well as at EU level, to support their integration into the host society.The aims:- to improve the professionalism of teachers in dealing with migrant and refugee children and diversity in classrooms- to help schools to promote the inclusion and learning success of newly arrived students, thus helping to prevent early school leaving- to support migrant and refugee children in primary schools and thus improve their learning performance- strengthen the cooperation between all stakeholders of the school community (leadership, teachers, other staff, students and their families).E-COURSE's target groups include school and teaching staff, social workers in primary education, volunteers, education authorities and other relevant actors as well as newly arrived children and their parents and any family with a migrant background. E-COURSE appeals to all contributors to the school community and wants to support every interested person.The project consists of three phases in which tools and methods were developed and tested in pilot schools in Germany, France, Greece, Italy and Cyprus. The long-term goal is to make the developed products available to a large number of schools at European level.In the first phase of the project, the thematic core as well as needs in the school context were documented in comprehensive research as well as focus groups with a total of more than 45 persons. In addition, competencies and best practices of the participating countries were researched and collected. In the subsequent Learning Modules, with a total of more than 100 participants, teachers and school staff were trained and educated in five EU countries, specifically adapted to the needs of their country. The five Learning Modules were held twice each, to allow for feedback from the participants and evaluations to be considered in the second run, thus optimizing the modules. The second phase of the project consisted primarily of designing an online school support platform for teachers, newly arrived students and their parents. The previously developed Learning Modules were made available as digital versions on the platform, as well as homework support for migrant and refugee students, a forum for parent and teacher communication, and important information and emergency numbers for participating EU countries. The digital learning modules are available online as well as for download. The homework support is supported by retired teachers in five countries, who provide help and advice to the children at home. The school support platform was jointly tested and optimized in five countries with a total of 9 pilot schools. In the meantime, more than 2,500 people have visited and used the platform already. The third phase of the project consisted of developing and testing a policy methodology for the elaboration of school policies on diversity. This methodology was tested in the form of individual activity plans at a total of eight primary schools.In the course of the project, a total of seven information events were held, enabling more than 300 people to be reached. Further dissemination activities reached more than 80,000 people. The project website alone was visited over 10,700 times.Improving the professionalism of teachers in dealing with migrant and refugee children in primary school education, as well as diversity in classrooms, supporting the schools, the inclusion and learning success of newly arrived students, support migrant and refugee students and their accomplishments, E-COURSE has been and continues to contribute to improving the learning performance of migrant children in primary education, counteracting early school leaving, reducing access barriers and improving and support the cooperation of all stakeholders of the school community. This does not only have a positive effect on the integration process of migrant children, but also on their families. The continual accessibility of all results, tools and information in five languages ensures continued support at national and international level.