Backpack-ID is an innovative intervention for promoting the inclusion of refugee children at school in four European countries (Greece and Italy, Germany and Sweden) which are met with acute and very diverse challenges by the ongoing refugee crisis. Informed by these differences, the present approach on social inclusion advances a common account of social inclusion challenges; it sees the social inclusion of refugee children as a function of addressing the needs and perspectives of those children and their families, and local communities and stakeholders, while affirming common European values. As an essentially multidisciplinary approach, the project is based on expertise in social and developmental psychology, linguistics, and educational theory and practice. At the same time, it brings together academic expertise and valuable experience and know-how from educational organizations, international educational networks, and NGO’s. The intervention focuses on elementary and lower secondary-school (10-15 years old) pupils’ multiple collective memberships, backgrounds and identities. It addresses both refugee and non-refugee pupils and seeks: (a) to empower all pupils and make them see and experience aspects of “otherness” in themselves. Pupils’ families and/or immediate social background will be pupils’ main resources to this end. “Never leave your backpack behind” refers to the trivial belongings of great emotional and symbolic value that refugees may carry in their backpacks, and serves as common ground in the quest for “pathways” and “bridges” across group-memberships and identities. Importantly, reflective work on identities further seeks; (b) to advance refugee pupils’ literacy development in the new language. This integrative approach to multiple identities, empowerment and literacy development is a core innovative contribution of Backpack-ID. The project’s scheduled outputs are tailored to its broad objectives and include: (i) tangible multi-format outcomes of pupils’ gains from reflective work on identities, capturing advances in pupils’ literacy as well as ability to reflect on similarities/ differences and see their experiences in a broader comparative European context; (ii) a set of comprehensive, innovative educational materials for multi-media use by pupils and teachers; (iii) a “teacher’s kit” intended to assist teachers with handling identity dynamics in class. Multiple methods will be relied upon within this essentially bottom-up approach bringing together educational action-research, participatory models, and mixed-method designs in psychology. Triangulation techniques are also foreseen for the needs of monitoring, analysing and evaluating data from the scheduled project-activities. At least 2000 persons are expected to benefit from Backpack-ID (without counting pupils’ families), an estimate including participating pupils and teachers, attendants of the scheduled multiplier events, administrators, NGO’s, policy makers, and stakeholders in local communities from the four countries and beyond. The anticipated effects on the above participants are both direct and indirect, and may well extend in time. (a) At the level of class, refugee and non-refugee pupils will directly benefit in psychological terms (self-esteem and positive self-images via their group memberships); dynamics in class change and facilitate communication in creative ways; pupils develop a readiness to recognise bias and discrimination while respecting other people’s social identities; refugee pupils’ literacy improves. (b) At the local community level refugee families will avoid self-withdrawal and marginalization, while a culture of more participation and inclusiveness is embedded. (c) Effects on participating teachers will be direct as regards their professional development and particularly their understanding of identity dynamics and relevant skills, but they also extend to the European educational community at large thanks to the resources made available by the project. (d) At the regional and national levels the project is expected to benefit a wide array of educational districts, municipalities, NGO’s, policy-makers and other stakeholders, by making available a set of comprehensive educational resources and supporting them against racism and xenophobia. (e) The material collected during the project is of great interest for many disciplines including psychology, linguistics and education, and may initiate novel and important research questions. Last and perhaps most importantly, the project is expected to have a timely positive impact on affirming common European values because of its bottom-up approach. Rather than seeing them as an imposed set of restrictive regulations, Backpack-ID approaches common values as the ultimate outcome of addressing the needs and perspectives of refugee and non-refugee children, local communities and stakeholders, in a common account of social inclusion challenges.
Context/background of th Project Backpack_ID is an innovative intervention for promoting the inclusion of refugee children at school in four European countries (Greece, Italy, Germany and Sweden). In all European countries today the creation of more inclusive classrooms for all students is a common goal, rarely achieved. To address this challenge, the Backpack_ID advances an innovative multidisciplinary approach based on expertise in social and developmental psychology, linguistics, and educational theory and practice. Bringing together academic expertise and valuable experience from educational organizations, international educational networks, and NGOs, it develops an intervention focused on elementary and lower secondary-school (10-15 years old) pupils’ multiple collective memberships, backgrounds and identities. Objectives The Project addresses both refugee and non-refugee pupils and seeks: (a) to empower all pupils and make them see and experience aspects of “otherness” in themselves. Pupils’ families and/or immediate social background (their communities) served as pupils’ main resources to this end. “Never leave your backpack behind” refers to the trivial belongings of great emotional and symbolic value that refugees may carry in their backpacks, and serves as common ground in the quest for “pathways” and “bridges” across group-memberships and identities. (b) to advance pupils’ literacy development through (auto)ethnographic collections of narratives and reflection on multiplie identities that emerge in these narratives. Participants - The academic staff of two universities who offered the necessary theoretical elements that formed the innovative intervention of Backpack_ID and trained accordingly the participating teachers. - Twenty-eight teachers of 12 schools (11 ordianary schools and 1 reception unit of municipality) that co-developed the intervantion and implemented it in their classrooms providing all the partnership with constant feedback. - 585 students of 12 schools who developed the educational material of the Project through the (auto)ethnographic activities they involed and their reflection on it. - Students' families (and communities) that offered their pictures, memories, languages, stories, the main sources on which the Project's educational material was based. - Other teachers, researchers, students, parents/ citizens, municipality authorities, policy-makers, NGOs and other stakeholders who participated in the dissemination activities and multiplier events of the Project. Undertaken activities - 7 transnational meetings as originally planned, 6 of them face-to-face and the last virtually due to covid19 - Review of the litterature and initial formation of the intervention - Informal training of the participating teachers and final design of the intervention -Implementation in schools, collection of the material by the sudents and reflection on it -Development of the IO1, 2 and 3 that reflect the work done in the participating schools -Development of the IO4 by the academic partners (EKPA and University of Crete) -Numerous dissemination activities at a local, regional, European and international level. -Development of a free acces on-line platform that provides to all educators and researchers the opportunity to use all Backpack_ID outputs. Results and impact The Backpack_ID reports positive results and important impact attained at various levels: - Regarding the project’s outcomes, all the developed IOs were of the highest quality and translated to five languages. - The direct participants (researchers and teachers) acquired significant gains in both academic and educational level. They enhanced their research skills, developed a deep understanding of the dynamics of multiple identities and created a strong potential for expanding the method of intervention for more inclusive classrooms. They also gained experience of mechanisms that led gradually to inclusion, enhanced their networking and cooperation with colleagues and social-networks from other European countries. - In participating schools, the dynamics in class changed and facilitated communication in creative ways; pupils developed a readiness to recognise bias and discrimination while respecting other people’s social identities; thei literacy improved. -The initially designed dissemination activities were not only met, but were expanded significantly, reaching large numbers (around 16000) of members of the international educational and academic community, policy-makers and NGOs. Long-term benefits The project is expected to have a timely positive impact on affirming common European values because of its bottom-up approach. Rather than seeing them as an imposed set of restrictive regulations, Backpack-ID approaches common values as the ultimate outcome of addressing the needs and perspectives of refugee and non-refugee children, local communities and stakeholders, in a common account of social inclusion challenges.