One of the general objectives set by the 2000 Lisbon Summit was to improve active citizenship, equal opportunities and social cohesion. But how to realize this in a European society that is more ethnically and culturally mixed than ever? Through the years around 72 million migrants have made their home in Europe. EU countries agree upon an easy access of immigrants and their children to education and training systems as a powerful instrument to prevent conflicts between people with different nationality, religion and background. Besides this, migrant students are more likely to drop out from compulsory education, leading to higher risks of social marginalization and, ultimately, to poverty. As a matter of fact, introduction programmes for newly arrived immigrants, language training for immigrants and their participation in civic, cultural and political life, have been identified as priority areas in this respect. Thus, considering the increasing number of immigrant children aged under 15, schools need to rethink classroom strategies in order to improve integration and cope with stereotypes. The TeaMS (Teaching Migrant Students) project proposal has arisen from the increasing demand inside schools for extra methods, skills and strategies to use in multicultural classes, in order to foster integration of pupils with a migrant background, improve the quality of their education and seed acceptance of diversity. Multicultural diversity will represent the flag of the project, under which the planned activities will be carried out to make schools more inclusive, creative and open-minded. The project's objectives will be achieved through the following activities: • teachers' training in joint sessions on methodological tools for effective support of middle-school children from culturally different or disadvantaged environments; • exchange of good practices supporting pupils' education and motivation to study in intercultural classrooms; • students' exchanges, addressed especially to students with a disadvantage or migrant background; • non-formal and informal learning activities for students carried out in each participating organization on the social, ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity. Each partner organization will involve in the whole project the entire school: staff, pupils of 12-13 years old and families. The total number of people taking part in the mobilities per organization will be: 5 teachers for the training and 20 students with 10 accompanying teachers. The short term exchange will enable students, especially newly arrived migrants, to navigate multiple cultural worlds effectively and help them to redefine their own boundaries as UE citizens. Students will be fully engaged in the project through preparatory activities on the geographical, cultural and educational aspects of the partner countries, also involving their parents. The most suitable teachers for the planned training will be chosen on the basis of their knowledge of English language and of their relational skills, as well as the personal motivation to the project objectives. The activities addressed to students will aim at: • developing values of respect and tolerance among pupils, as well as a sense of European identity, • a deeper understanding of contemporary cultural diversity in its historical and social context and a more concrete awareness of being united in diversity, • improving foreign language and digital competences, • increasing self-esteem and motivation to learn particularly for migrant pupils, • improving students involvement as active citizens in their multicultural school and society. The training activities and exchange of experiences would provide teachers with improved methods for daily practice in favour of migrant students, increased foreign language competences and broaden understanding of best intercultural education practices. Long-term outputs of the activities will be a hosting protocol, leaflets presenting the school organization in different languages, teaching materials to meet the migrant students' needs. Tasks and responsibilities will be distributed equally among partners, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the project, the best organization and timing of activities. All partners will respect the established deadlines and produce learning activities and proper outcomes for students on agreed topics. The dissemination activities have been planned considering the major impact that the project intends to produce, and therefore caters specifically to students, staff and families of the partner organisations, and also to other local schools, local public authorities and associations dealing with integration of migrants. Each partner will be in charge of the dissemination of the results in order to facilitate a dialogue and a learning experience among the stakeholders, to ensure that the results of the project extend beyond its lifetime and remain accessible and available for long-term use.
Through the years, millions of migrants have made European society more ethnically and culturally mixed than in the past. An easy access of immigrants and their children to education and training systems is a powerful instrument to prevent conflicts between people with different nationality, religion and background. Introduction programmes for newly arrived immigrants, language training for immigrants and their participation in civic, cultural and political life, have been identified as priority areas to prevent dropping out and social marginalization. Thus, considering the increasing number of immigrant children aged under 15, schools need to rethink classroom strategies in order to improve integration and cope with stereotypes. The TeaMS (Teaching Migrant Students) project proposal has arisen from the increasing demand inside schools for extra methods, skills and strategies to use in multicultural classes, in order to foster integration of pupils with a migrant background, improve the quality of their education and seed acceptance of diversity. Multicultural diversity represented the flag of the project, under which the planned activities were carried out to make schools more inclusive, creative and open-minded. The project's objectives were achieved through the following activities: • teachers' training in joint sessions on methodological tools for effective support of middle-school children from culturally different or disadvantaged environments; • exchange of good practices supporting pupils' education and motivation to study in intercultural classrooms; • students' exchanges, addressed especially to students with a disadvantage or migrant background; • non-formal and informal learning activities for students carried out in each participating organization on the social, ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity. Each partner organization involved in the project the entire school: staff, pupils of 12-13 years old and families. The total number of people taking part in the physical mobilities was: 12 teachers for the training and 80 students with 39 accompanying teachers; the total number of people taking part in the virtual mobility and exchange of good practices was respectively: 242 pupils and 25 accompanying teachers, 36 teachers. The short term exchange enabled students, especially newly arrived migrants, to redefine their own boundaries as UE citizens. Students were fully engaged in the project through preparatory activities on the geographical, cultural and educational aspects of the partner countries, also involving their parents. The teachers for the training were chosen on the basis of their knowledge of English language and of their relational skills, as well as the personal motivation to the project objectives. The activities for the students fulfilled the following aims: • developing values of respect and tolerance among pupils, as well as a sense of European identity, • a deeper understanding of contemporary cultural diversity in its historical and social context, • improving foreign language and digital competences, • increasing self-esteem and motivation to learn particularly for migrant pupils. The training activities and exchange of experiences provided teachers with better methods for daily practice in favour of migrant students, increased foreign language competences and broaden understanding of best intercultural education practices. Tasks and responsibilities were distributed equally among partners, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the project, the best organization and timing of activities. All partners produced learning activities and proper outcomes for students on agreed topics. The dissemination activities in charge of each partner school were planned considering the major impact on students, staff and families and also on other local schools, local public authorities and associations dealing with integration of migrants. The project website ensures that the results of the project extend beyond its lifetime and remain accessible and available for long-term use. The expected long-term outputs of the activities are: a hosting protocol, teaching materials to meet the migrant students' needs.