On 18 and 19 June, the second training seminar of EFEE’s and ETUCE’s joint project on integration of migrants in education took place in Larnaca (Cyprus). The meeting was dedicated to EFEE and ETUCE members from eastern and southern European countries. In total 4 EFEE members participated from Cyprus, Bulgaria, Croatia and Montenegro. The programme started with a presentation from the European Forum for Migration Studies on the ‘Back to school report’, a comparative overview of the situation of asylum seekers and refugees in 7 EU countries. After this more general introduction to the theme, Professor Nihad Bunar from the University of Stockholm, who has been involved in the project as ‘external expert’, presented the main findings of the project including the outcomes of the case studies to Spain, Serbia and Belgium. Consequently, during the knowledge fair, participants shared good practices from their countries. From the education employers’ side, Pavlina Hadjitheodoulou-Louizidou from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus presented practices and experiences regarding the educational integration of students with migrant background in schools in Cyprus. Furthermore, Vesna Gajevic from the Ministry of Education of Montenegro shared examples on social inclusion of refugees and domestic Roma and Egyptian children in the education system in Montenegro. Moreover, speakers from civil society organisations (e.g. Red Cross EU, EuroChild, COFACE Families Europe) presented concrete ways to promote the integration of migrants in the host society. Besides the set of presentations, all participants shared experiences and provided input to joint social partners practical guidelines on the promotion of effective integration of migrant and refugee learners in education during the working group sessions. These recommendations will be further developed during the final conference of the project, which will take place in Brussels on 14 and 15 October.
For more information, please contact: sarah.kik@educationemployers.eu