The project main objective is to improve the conditions for successful school integration and early prevention of dropout of pupils from vulnerable groups through the successful engagement of all actors including teachers, school psychologist and/or pedagogical advisor, social/youth workers and policy experts. The specific objectives of this project proposal are: • To establish database of good practices and measures that can foster the creation a proper educational environment for children from minority groups, children with special needs, migrant children and pupils at risk of early school leaving; • To promote equality and inclusion and to improve the quality of school education by encouraging the participation of the family members of pupils from disadvantaged groups in the prevention of school leaving; • Improving the quality and relevance of the services offered to disadvantaged pupils in in the partners countries by improving the skills and competences of teachers, advisors, counselors and other staff to providing services to pupils from vulnerable groups. The project envisages to attain this objectives through gathering, analysis and adaptation of good practices,creative pedagogical methods, innovative didactic resources and counseling methodologies focused on disadvantaged students and their parents inclusion in the mainstream educational systems. • Improving the capacity of the partnership organizations particularly in the areas of strategic development of school policies towards pupils in risk of ESL, organizational management, leadership, quality of education and counseling services and internationalization; • To enhance the professional skills of the pedagogical experts from the partner countries by improving their knowledge and providing them with methodological tools that will facilitate the work with disadvantaged pupils and their families to reduce ESL and increase the academic success of their children. • To offer a methodological models of a flexible intervention that can adapt to different contexts in the three countires where actions with pupils and families are going to be carried out in the framework of educational programs or projects. • To offer guidelines to establish an adequate bond and collaboration with the wider network around children at risk – not only the teachers, but also family, pedagogical experts the school centres as well as with other involved services and entities. • To highlight all actions considered “good practices” and to create conditions for their adaptation not only by the participating ogranisations but schools serving disadvantaged communities at national and EU level Each of the activities will allow the implementation of the objectives and support the work of teachers, trainers, school psychologists and pedagogic counselors to enhance their competence and develop their professional activities and will directly affect pupils and their motivation for involvement and increased activity. The direct target groups of the project are 1. Teachers 2. School psychologists 3. Pedagogical advisors 4. Social and youth workers 5. Policy experts in that field that work with pupils from vulnerable groups and with higher risk of leaving the school system. For the purposes of this project proposal and the effective completion of the project’s objectives the project will focus especially on representatives of the target groups working with: - Roma pupils and pupils from other ethnic minorities - Excluded pupils or pupils at risk of exclusion because of their linguistic adaptation and cultural inclusion difficulties - Pupils from asylum seekers families, refugees and new migrants
Ethnic minority integration school hub project, implemented by CEIDUEM, Bulgaria, in partnership with Eurothink - Center for European Strategies, Skopje, Northern Macedonia and San Carlos Primary School, Madrid, Kingdom of Spain, started on 01.09.2018 d and will end by the end of February 2020. The objectives of the project were to improve the conditions for successful school integration and early prevention of dropping out of students from vulnerable groups through the successful involvement of all participants, including teachers, school psychologists and / or pedagogical advisors, social / youth workers and political experts. So far, all major activities have been implemented - 2 transnational meetings of partner organizations that took place in Bulgaria (one in the beginning of the project and one in December 2019). A Good Practice Guide from partners' activities has been developed. The results dissemination activities and a comprehensive assessment of the impact of project implementation are forthcoming. Representatives of the partner organizations participated in the first transnational meeting, which took place from 25-27 October 2018. The program of the meeting included activities related to the review of the project and upcoming activities, their implementation, presentation of the cooperation agreements, and the award of certificates for participation. The partners agreed and agreed on the project commitments. In the period March 10-15, 2019, the first cross-border mobility project took place at the Park Hotel Moscow in Sofia. The event was attended by 33 representatives of the partner organizations - 13 from Bulgaria and 10 each from Northern Macedonia and Spain. The event was opened by Manuel Radeva, Director of CEIDUEM and Project Manager. She presented the goals and activities of the project, the mobility program in Bulgaria and the funding body Erasmus + program. During the mobility, creative workshops were held, good practices and presentations on the role of parenting communities were presented. A working visit was also held at the Nayden Gerov secondary school, Plovdiv, which has extensive experience in educational integration and implementation of student retention policies in the education system.In the period June 27 - July 2, 2019, the second cross-border mobility project took place at the Continental Hotel in Skopje, Northern Macedonia. The participants again included representatives and experts from organizations, educators, school psychologists, pedagogical advisors and youth workers. The mobility program included activities related to sharing creative methods for working with children from vulnerable groups, developing a methodology structure and a plan for adapting good practices from the three countries, a working visit to school, a webinar and meeting with political figures, and representatives of state institutions responsible for educational integration. All participants had the opportunity to share their experiences and expressed their satisfaction with the discussions and working visits. A visit was also made to the largest school in N. Macedonia and one of the largest segregated schools in general (entirely Roma) in the Shuto Orizari neighborhood in Skopje.The third cross-border mobility of the project took place from 18 to 23 September 2019 in Madrid, Spain. The theme of mobility was "From Practice to Policy". The mobility program included working visits to institutions and organizations working with children from vulnerable groups, presenting activities to prevent dropping out of the educational system, targeted activities for integration and socialization of children and students from different ethnic groups, a webinar and meeting with political figures and representatives of state institutions responsible for educational integration. A meeting was held with representatives of the Vilaverde municipality of Madrid, responsible for families and minorities. As part of the mobility, a fully segregated school was visited in the Valécas area - Public School Núñez de Arenas, where mainly Roma children and students were studying. There was a meeting with the Foundation FSG (Fundacion Secretariado Gitano), which mainly deals with social and intercultural issues, including education.At the beginning of December 2019, the last meeting of the partner organizations took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The three teams had the opportunity to share their experience of participating in the project, as well as the benefits for organizations, participants in mobility and for educational institutions and organizations at local and national level resulting from the implementation of the activities. During the meeting, a presentation of good practices was presented and discussed and approved.