Migration and integration in Europe The background of the project is the upcoming crisis of migration that Europe is presently experiencing. All participating countries in the project - Germany, France, Latvia and Poland - face the same challenges. We all agreed that migration causes both problems and new possibilities and it is our strong conviction that we ought to meet those challenges both on an international an on a local level. Young people today require transversal competences such as knowledge about the reasons for immigration and information about what conditions and challenges the different countries in Europe are currently experiencing. An exchange of good practice is vital. Since this upcoming situation is not a temporary one, a long-term perspective is a required approach. The topic of the project will be analyzed from four different points of view: - personal perspectives, - legislation for immigration, - social integration, - immigration for education The objectives of the project are to elaborate on, establish and spread workable methods that in the long run will facilitate the integration of new European citizens, primarily in the different school systems. In schools, many newly arrived immigrants experience a strong feeling of isolation having to face the challenge of both learning a new culture and a new language. The exchange of experiences between teachers and students representing different European countries will - on a transversal - raise the awareness of common European values; values such as: freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination. By practicing foreign languages and intercultural competences, young people will evolve communication skills, empathy and a mutual understanding. In the long run, this will facilitate a more inclusive and tolerable climate, primarily on municipal levels. Working actively with the issue of migration will also result in more attractive schools plus add to a more competent group of staff when it comes to dealing professionally with the concepts of multiplicity and integration. The 400 students who participate in the project will be at least 15 years old and are from classes which reach to the A-Level. The 34 participating teachers are teaching the following subjects: social studies, religion, history, politics, modern languages, economy and hence are experts within these fields. Most of them also have experience from working with similar projects in the past. In the times between the four meetings abroad all participating schools are working on the same set of questions which are embedded in their respective lesson plans. The host is preparing a presentation of the results for the first workshop. A transversal co-operation like this will lead to the concrete result of common methods on how to continue working with these issues in a long-term perspective. The methods elaborated on will be: Interviews, verbal presentations, exhibitions, group work, debates, Internet research and investigation Further expected results are: - to raise awareness of the different aspects of migration and integration - to increase interest and knowledge in these fields - to promote activities aiming at integration and multiculturalism - to enhance the learning of foreign languages The results will, in longer term, benefit society`s work with successful integration of new citizens in the different European countries.
Migration and integration in Europe The background of this project was the current crisis of migration that Europe is presently experiencing. All participating countries in the project - Germany, France, Latvia and Poland - face varieties of the same challenges. We all agreed that migration causes both problems as well as new possibilities and it is our strong conviction that we ought to meet those challenges both on an international an on a local level. Young people today require transversal competences such as knowledge about the varying reasons for immigration and information about what conditions and challenges the different countries in Europe are currently experiencing to fully become European citizens. An exchange of best practices in different communities and countries is vital. Since this situation is not a temporary one, a long-term perspective was required in this approach. The central topic of (im)migration and integration was tackled from four different points of view: - personal perspectives - legislation for immigration § - social integration - immigration for education The objectives of the project were - to elaborate on - to establish and - to implement manageable methods that in the long run will facilitate the (mutual) integration of new European citizens. In this exchange we were primarily focusing on the strengths of the different school systems. In schools, many newly arrived immigrants experience a strong feeling of isolation. They have to face the double challenge of both learning a new language and getting to know a new culture in which they are learning at the same time. Exchanging experiences between teachers and students and also different European countries - on a transversal - raised the awareness of common European values; values such as: freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination. By practicing foreign languages and intercultural competences, young people evolve communication skills, empathy and a mutual understanding. In the long run, this facilitates a more inclusive and tolerant climate, primarily on municipal levels, but also in the school family. Working actively with the issue of migration will also result in more welcoming and attractive schools plus add to a more competent group of staff when it comes to dealing professionally with the concepts of multiplicity and integration. The almost 400 students who participated in the project were at 15 years old and were from so called “full-time” classes A-Level and FHR. The 34 participating teachers teach the following subjects: social studies, religion, history, politics, modern languages, economy and hence are experts within these fields. Most of them also had experience from working with similar projects in the past, which also led to some lovely reunions on the teachers’ side. In the times between the three meetings abroad all participating schools worked on the same set of questions which were embedded in their respective lesson plans. The host prepared a presentation of these results for the first workshop to have a common starting ground for the workshops. A transversal co-operation like this culminated in the here mentioned methods on how to continue working with these issues in a long-term perspective. The methods we used were: Interviews, verbal presentations, exhibitions, group work, debates, Internet research and investigation. Due to the digital meeting and the creative students we also added videos and vlogs into the methods. Further results were: - raised awareness for the different aspects of migration and integration - increased interest and factual knowledge in these four fields - promotion of activities aiming at integration and multiculturalism - usage of foreign languages as lingua franca and means of communication in authentic situations These results were aimed to improve the integration of new citizens in the different European countries and to strengthen an identity of European citizenship amongst participants.