The "family" can be considered as one important access point to groups of society that suffer social exclusion. On the one hand, families, especially those with an immigrant background, are more effected by poverty than other groups of society and as a consequence by social exclusion. On the other hand, through their children, parents with difficult backgrounds and migration history still have links to the society, e.g. via kindergarten, schools, clubs etc. Moreover, during the family formation phase, parents often have an intrinsic motivation to look for support and family related learning opportunities. Family education can make use of this. Researchers have identified the educational gap as a transmission channel for poverty into the next generation. (see e.g. study Bertelsmann Stiftung (Hrsg.) (2017): Armutsmuster in Kindheit und Jugend.) Family education can be one way to overcome this vicious circle. The project FAMILY+ therefore identified family education and empowerment as one promising way to interrupt the transmission of social exclusion from one generation to the other. In line with the ERASMUS+ horizontal priority "social inclusion" the Family+ project focuses on "inclusion through education". The project partners see an opportunity within the framework of FAMILY+ to exchange, acquire and disseminate knowledge about proven and successful empowerment-based methods for adult education with a family focus. Disadvantaged families with a migration background are at the centre of interest of the project. The parents are most likely young, low skilled and disadvantaged. The FAMILY+ project refers to two important life phases of children and their parents when the need for family education is high: I. The need for family education starts when parents get children, usually shortly before the child is born. During this phase, offers on how to raise a child and and how to ensure a healthy and well integrated life for the child are needed, but also financial issues etc. II. A new need for family education arises when children go to school. In this transition period from kindergarten to the primary school, there is a higher need for family education. It can help to cope with daily activities, to support children with school topics and to establish relevant relations with teachers. In addition, it is important for migrant parents to acquire language and basic skills and to have adequate knowledge about the school system. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT The overall objective of the project is to investigate how family education can help to overcome social exclusion of immigrant and disadvantaged families in the European partner regions and beyond. This question is answered throughout the project at different levels and from different perspectives. In order to find new approaches to support the social inclusion of families, the project partners intend ... ... with view to the migrant families: o to identify successful forms to reach disadvantaged, young, migrant families with a lack of basic skills and low socio-economic backgrounds as well as marginalised groups (e.g. outreach education, cooperation with social work, specific strategies to reach fathers) o to identify and apply methods that can strengthen the families' capacity to participate in social activities, work life, and increase their possibility to support their children (e.g. empowerment methods, social activities) o to discover and transfer successful educational offers for disdvantaged families (family related key competences, basic skills, language, where possible combined with each other) o to detect success factors to increae the taget-group orienation, effectiveness quality of educational programmes ... on the institutional level: o to anlyse and gain knowledge on successful cooperation between institutions of family education and other educational institutions (e.g. schools, nuseries, kindergarten, day cares, self-organized migrant associations, but also language schools and adult education) o to further develop intercultural opening o to qualify and sensitize staff in family education for the special demands of migrant families o to launch a joint discussion about the social and political relevance of family education The project work will be planned and pushed forward during three transnational project meetings. Each of the meetings will comprise three days and include - partner sessions in which work on the project activities - on site visits at family education institutions and initiatives - conferences on family education issues with regional and national experts In addition, a learning activity for family educators is organised. In the long run, the FAMILY+ partners would like to raise the number of disadvantaged families participating in family education and to increase measurably the involvement of these families in society and the labour market.
The implemented project "FAMILY+" must be divided into the 2 phases before and during the Covid19 pandemic. This marked a decisive caesura for the course of the project. Parallel to the total lockdown of family education and (pre-)school institutions, project activities largely came to a standstill. Particularly painful was the cancellation of the 3rd TPM in Oslo, which had already been meticulously prepared by the Norwegian project partners, as well as the postponement or eventual cancellation of the LTTA in Brussels, initially planned for June 2020 and then scheduled for the fall. The project had started promisingly in autumn 2018 with the motivated project partners* from the regions of Västra Götaland, Oslo and Baden-Württemberg (B.-W.). In several Skype conferences before the kick-off event in Stuttgart, the participants had already exchanged information about their respective practical interests and possible program points. The key terms listed in the project application were also discussed, with the following categories in particular being strongly weighted by the project partners*: Empowerment, intercultural opening, cooperation with other institutions, gender equality. At the first TPM with 14 Scandinavian guests in Stuttgart, an effective mixture of project presentations, practical visits and excursions to city districts as well as professional discourse among the participants and with municipal and regional cooperation partners and networks came to fruition, which was also the guiding principle for the second TPM in Gothenburg. Already before the kick-off event, the project FAMILY+ was presented by the two regional project partners at a meeting of the Network Family Education with atending members from all over B.-W. and with online connection of one Swedish and one Norwegian project partner. During the three-day TPM in Stuttgart, the best practice presentations of the two hosts were supplemented by on-site visits with excursions in the respective districts in order to gain insights into the socio-spatial context and framework conditions of the educational offers. Other institutions were introduced, such as the Welcome Center or various family centers, which have a connection to the selected practical examples. In addition, the Department for Integration Policy presented the "Stuttgart Pact for Integration" (Bündnis für Integration). The highlight of the TPM was the concluding conference "places, skills and resources for families - international exchange of good practice" at the Mütterzentrum Süd with other local and regional educational actors. The numerous guests were able to engage in professional discourse on the international best practices presented by all the participants at topic tables and in workshops. A cross-sectional topic across the individual fields of practice was the accessibility of and educational work with migrant families. At the 2nd TPM in Gothenburg, the 18 guests from Oslo and B.-W. came into professional exchange with numerous experts from integration practice as well as with responsible persons from municipal / regional policy areas and institutions. The varied field excursions led to 4 different districts, 3 of them suburbs at a considerable distance from the city. During the visits to various institutions in the field of family education, informative and stimulating insights into their work and organizational forms were given, and contacts with the target group could be established on site. A focus of these visits and discussions was again and again the cooperation, but also the independence of governmental and non-governmental or civil society actors. In the end, the project "Doula and Cultural Interpreter" and the "Support Group Network" by and for refugees made a great impression. Although the 3rd TPM in Oslo had to be cancelled at short notice due to the pandemic, a series of interviews on the project topic with the project partners who had traveled to Oslo could be conducted and published on Spotify under TODCast- The Oslo Desk - a series well worth listening to. The final event of the project took place on November 19, 2020 as an international online conference with all participating project partners* on the current topic "Impact of the Corona Pandemic on Family Education". Moderated by the Oslo journalist Ka Man Mak, various workshops were held to report on and discuss negative and positive changes, e.g. with regard to the accessibility of the target group and possibilities of media use, and another best practice example "Youth Ambassadors" in Oslo was presented. In conclusion, it can be said that despite the pandemic-related limitations of the project, there was a fruitful and successful exchange among the project partners involved, which will continue to have an impact on the fields of work of the respective institutions.