Context/background Many people from the Middle East and North Africa come to Europe, to live and to work. That is not easy. Also 2nd and 3d generation children have problems with integration. Among these groups there are potential valuable workforces, where European population is getting older and shrinking. NIK speaks from Newcomers. To use this potential, integration is important. Integration includes the entry of young children in the educational system, with many challenges: - Language and culture of the host country - Different educational systems, - Lack of social contacts with neighbours or other representatives of the new country. - Growing separation and reducing tolerance. Contacts can be simply created via culinary activities. Multicultural cooking together with children, parents and teachers creates a better understanding. Modern materials such as an App will help. VET students will present it in primary/secondary schools. VET image will improve and more Objectives and target groups NIK contributes to a better integration of Newcomers. NIK focuses on VET students and pupils from primary/secondar including teachers (and parents). Main objective is to develop learning material about food – both from host countries and from the Newcomers. Multimedia play an important role. NIK develops attractive Apps, to be used on PC, tablet and mobile phone. These Apps will contain stories/cartoons, recipes, geographical information, language support and games, all to make it attractive for the youngsters. Where possible, these activities will be embedded in regional/national strategies. Number and profile of participants are on three levels: A. Organisations involved On national/regional level, educational and cultural organisations, including NGO's, are involved in strategies for integration of Newcomers. They participate in regional networks. The outcomes of NIK will help them to adjust their strategies. Total # 80. This includes representatives of the EDINA project. B. Development and Piloting of the App Two IT-partners develop the app. On VET schools (food processing and/or hospitality) students and teachers will use the NIK products. In NL, DE, IT and SW, one VET schools (or similar organisation) will organise culinary events with pupils from primary/secondary schools. In NL and Estonia, the app will be made. Total VET students: 50 C. Using the app in primary/secondary education Primary schools make pupils and their parents familiar with the NIK app. VET students will assist. The digital cook book from the app will be extended, while preparing together and finding common “grounds” (in ingredients, in celebrations, etc.). The NIK communication platform will host these new recipes, background stories and their experiences in their new homelands. There will be 4 x 3 = 12 primary schools involved, with on average 25% of participants = 600 pupils both original and Newcomers. Description of activities - Level A: o Development of strategies, policy and contacts, together with local authorities, o Development of a dissemination plan towards secondary (VET) schools - Level B: o Development manual for setting up local cross sectoral networks o Instruction manual how to use an app, including the format for making cartoons, recipes and culinary background, games, mutual cultural and historical background information, o Module for content development - Level C: o Implementation instruction and implementation for students of VET schools. Training of teachers, try out of the app. o Promotion and marketing via national/regional multiplier events, o Development of scenarios foe cooking events, o Implementation on primary schools by students of VET schools Methodology to carry out the project - Supporting regional and national organisations, - Methods for the creation of ECVET proof e-learning content, available for everybody, - Cross-sectorial approach: primary education and VET Short description of the results - Contribution to strategy in national/regional approaches in integration of Newcomers, - Learning materials, including culinary experiments in a multicultural context, - Apps with cartoons/comics, games, quizzes, to be used in lessons “ Culinary aspects of two cultures”, - (VET)- teachers are enthusiastic for the materials and use it as a result of national/regional multiplier events, - Culinary country days/weeks, in combination with cultural activities Impact Support of the integration of Newcomers, because national/regional authorities have updated strategy documents, Educational staff from VET is trained in the use of the content, National Multiplier Events will lead to more interested schools. A better image of VET, lead to more Newcomer participants. Potential longer-term benefits The user-friendly structure of the App invites for further extension among VET schools, and active participation of Newcomers. More qualified Newcomers will enter the labour market.
Context/background In the last years, many people from the Middle East and North Africa came to Europe, to live and to work. They face serious problems. Also 2nd and 3d generation children have problems with their integration. Results are unemployment, bad education and criminality. The paradox is that among these groups, there are potential valuable workforces, where European population is aging and even shrinking. Objectives Main objective is to improve the integration of newcomers in the VET system and to prepare them for a better position in the Western society. Other objectives are: - To inform teachers and school managements about the NIK project, with the idea that NIK will become a regular part of the school program - To make local/regional authorities more aware of the integration problem and the solution which NIK can offer and to let them put the topic “integration” on their agenda. - To establish cooperation between the partners authorities and political makers, and also between the European countries (with the guidelines for creating a cross sectoral network) - To develop the understanding for each other (culture, society) as it can be developed in the future (with all created IO material, such as e-learning material, guidelines for cooking events for a Multiplier Event and the game. Number and profile participants We had the following groups of participants: 1. VET students and newcomers. They participated in the cooking events and used together the NIK game. The age from the VET students was between 17 and 20. Variation in age among the newcomers was bigger: between 14 and 30. Number: 150-200 2. Teachers and school management: Directly involved teachers discussed the project with colleagues, the same for school management. Number: 50 3. Local/regional authorities and organisations: 150-200 4. Other interested people were reached via 6 Newsletters and the website. Newsletters: 250 Website www.newcomerkitchen.eu: more than 7000 unique visitors. Activities The project had 4 intellectual outputs: IO 1: Manuals for setting up a network, for publications and for dissemination. IO 2: Manual for making effective e-learning materials. IO 3: Designing and implementing the NIK game IO 4: Manual for organising cooking events. All outputs were placed on the website and in the Dropbox. Apart of the IOs, NIK had 4 TPMs. Due to COVID19, the last one was online. Also 5 cooking events and 5 multiplier events were organised Results an impact attained The website gives a good impression of the results: All manuals from the IOs are uploaded. The same for the Newsletters and the recipes. If there is a connection between the impact and the number of unique visitors (7000) then we are optimistic. On school level, managements have decided to continue with the project and in some schools, it has become an integrated part of the school program. Impact can be described as follows: - Students, newcomers and teachers are enthusiastic about the materials and activities and trained in the use of it. - School management looks for possibilities to integrate the project in the regular school program and to use it for promotion of the school, also for newcomers. National Multiplier Events were good moments to interest other schools. - Support of the integration of Newcomers, by national/regional authorities which have put the “Integration”- topic on their agendas. Potential longer-term benefits The user-friendly structure of the game (no language, no complicated instruction) invites for further extension among VET schools, and active participation of Newcomers. More qualified Newcomers will enter the labour market. But that will be really on the longer term.