Organising support at school level by EUN Partnership aisbl

Michael, VET, Germany

2022-05-23 17:47:42 UTC

To be honest, the support is quite poor. We organized a "Welcome class" for our Ukrainian refugees. The disadvantage is, that this way they are not integrated into the social community of the school, but are somehow separate. What is needed: language support for the first steps, curriculum combining German lessons and integrated lessons in regular classes, a concept combining formal and nonformal learning, exchange with other VET schools....

Cristina Dias - Portugal

2022-05-24 18:22:29 UTC

Related to the cases I had (Ucrainian students), school offered all the support they could. In classes, we didn't need anything special, because they worked in projects with other students. Yet, in what concerns their culture and food habits, we had to adapt their meals and the place where they ate because they felt a little watched. I have also a brasilian student, who came to Portugal for economic reasons; and the support has been made through local associations according to the school needs (materials, books, food given in the middles os morning and afternoon and so on). So, in my school, I think we have managed as well as we can, of course, asking for help as we need anything different.

A new mindset for teachers

ssoubassi — 2022-05-24 18:27:37 UTC

In my school most of my colleagues still resist to all change; not only as regards refugee inclusion but in general. They do not want to hear a word about CPD (Continuous professional development) so they cannot imagine the benefits of peer learning professional communities and networking. I think this is the key for the transformation of my school to a school for all. Watching the videos I felt jealous of the teachers in the German schools who dedicate resources and energy to meet up once a week and discuss their plans and activities!

Carlos Sousa, Portugal

carlosdsousa28 — 2022-05-24 19:10:40 UTC

The School has a multidisciplinary team made up of specialist teachers/technicians, psychologists, social workers and non-teaching staff that support integration into the classroom.

So far we have only encountered one problem with a child who exhibits disruptive behaviors. A Pedopsychiatry consultation was requested but the health services have not yet responded (we are talking about 15 days).

fusuntufan — 2022-05-25 07:51:09 UTC

Everything that schools do in our country depends on the directives of the central government, so what schools can do on their own is very limited. Language learning is definitely the biggest problem and the number of teachers trained on this subject is unfortunately very few.

Kateryna Bilyk - Poland

kbilyk — 2022-05-25 16:05:11 UTC

I think I have all the necessary support in my school: information, materials, methodological and emotional support from colleagues and the headmaster. Our school organised classes for refugee children in two ways: submersion and parallel. Choosing a model depends on a level at which children speak Polish. Those who have parallel classes have many lessons of the Polish language. Also, we organised integration lessons with Polish students, various excursions to show refugee children the city, the local culture.

Ana Correia, Guarda, Portugal

2022-05-26 14:00:57 UTC

As far as class context is related, migrant/refugee students have classes of Portuguese as a foreign language. There’s no other type of class-related support provided, though children and their families are given as much support in the other areas as possible (food, clothes, health care, etc).

When talking about my specific work with them, I feel school in general lacks some structure. I teach English at a primary level and most students either have had no prior contact with the language and/or integrate the class at the middle of a school year. Some of these students integrate classes that are, on their own, mixed leveled (3^rd graders with 4^th graders), which means the class becomes multileveled. So, effective and affective language learning is compromised.

There’s little room to be flexible about the curriculum which makes it difficult to address all the other important emotions and skills that need to be addressed (either with migrant students or local students).

These challenges have not been caused by migration, but have become more evident with them, and I believe some simple changes in the way we look at school would make things easier and more interesting for everyone. All students (not only migrants) would benefit from:

- leveled language classes (not by age, but by language level)
- in class support from a second teacher (if leveled classes are not possible...);
- a more flexible curriculum and school mindset that facilitates more dynamic pedagogical approaches (leaving room to address emotional and cultural issues)

Any other ideas around?

Eylem/TURKEY

sustainablesifekills2024 — 2022-05-26 17:57:29 UTC

I received support from the school guidance service. The school administration also helps me to solve problems from time to time.

Cornelia Alina Moţ, Romania

corneliamot79 — 2022-05-27 16:34:38 UTC

In support of teachers and students, we had school counselors from the school, the school management, but also psychologists from rescued children. We received support from the school guidance service.

Hacer Sezen / Turkey

sznhacer — 2022-05-27 19:10:20 UTC

My school is very experienced in this regard. I got all the support I wanted. The financial and professional needs of the students are met.

Seda Göçhan-Turkey

sedagochan75 — 2022-05-28 07:27:59 UTC

At the beginning of the students are languages and guidance. They need support in these areas so that they can adapt to the school environment.

Cathy (Aikaterini) Sideri

kate_sideri — 2022-05-29 11:02:53 UTC

Unfortunately, there is no plan for special support if, needed. We, teachers, have to improvise, in case we need to deal with an urgent situation. The teacher appointed for welcoming and teaching the basics in greek language, supports us and all the rest support him/her. More things should be done on this, I assume.

Isabel Quirino, Portugal

2022-05-29 17:10:44 UTC

There are national guidelines that my school are trying to put in practice. In this moment, I think we are still starting this process. I would like to receive training and to have the opportunity to know good experiences from other schools. It will be usefull to organize a specific team with the goal of put all school thinking about this subject. Refugees and migrants belongs to school, so all school must be prepare to act, each of us with our specific goal. The main difficulty is our metality: we still look at this kind of challenge with a burocratic mind!

Gemma F. Barcelona

gfontova1 — 2022-05-29 17:12:48 UTC

We have in Catalonia few support from the administration nowadays. In some schools we have the welcoming class, but sometimes it's not enought for all the students we have. For next year, even they know we will have more refugees from Ukrania, they haven't give the resource and they are saying they will review in july, so we will have another teacher in case we have the ressource. We don't have professionals for these traumas or even some economical ressources for material or for basic things. Sometimes, even they can not use the social services of the city or we have to do the burocratic things.

Györgyi, Hungary

2022-05-30 10:23:04 UTC

Trainings would be useful, we should know how to handle traumas at school. How to deal with cultural differences, even when the children do not have big language differences.

Treatment of newcomers in Catalunya.

elockhar — 2022-05-30 17:39:26 UTC

Most of the schools in my area have a teacher or a group of teachers that are in charge of inclusion. They deal with special educational needs and, many times, with newcomers.
Some schools that are in areas with a high percentage of immigrant students that have arrived to our nation (or autonomous community, if you prefer so) in the previous years, have a special section or teacher that works with these newcomers to provide them with the linguistic and cultural skills they need to incorporate fully to the mainstream class.

Stéphanie, FRANCE Helping online

2022-06-01 12:42:01 UTC

As we are far away in the countryside, the main support is through the internet: I am a teacher trainer and I try to provide tools and advice from a distance. It is not always easy and this help is more for the teachers than for the students directly.
I would like to organise a forum so that teachers can exchange with each other and feel less isolated.

Sezin Teacher - Turkey

hediyesezinsen — 2022-06-01 18:07:21 UTC

Actually, there is no plan for special support if, needed. We, teachers, have to improvise, in case we need to deal with an urgent situation.

Recep ÖKDEM-TÜRKİYE

recepokdem15 — 2022-06-01 19:16:29 UTC

We get support by doing projects at our school in our work with immigrants or refugees.

Müzeyyen Durgun/Turkey

muzeyyenmiray55 — 2022-06-01 20:03:26 UTC

I am not getting any support on this. In the studies I plan to do in my classroom, I include my immigrant student in the planning without separating them.

ruqaya-jordan

thesmurfsteamt — 2022-06-02 17:35:05 UTC

My school has less than five refugee students schools nearby, and they have international organizations.

VOICU CORINA, ROMANIA

corina_v1978 — 2022-06-02 19:30:37 UTC

We had 2 students but they managed to integrate quickly. The problem was that they were far from their family, who stayed in another country and had money problems.

Sema Özkılıç/Turkey

2022-06-03 17:53:21 UTC

We are receiving guidance and support from our psychological counselor teacher about this issue at our school.My idea is that adolescent psychologists can also be trained in schools on the issues of combating trauma and ease of adaptation.

Andreea Cristina Mihai

mihaiandreea990 — 2022-06-06 07:26:51 UTC

we don„t have a special plan,but we integrate this children quikly.

Ana Patrícia Almeida - Portugal

anapalmeida1 — 2022-06-06 09:43:16 UTC

Not being a Primary and Secondary School Teacher, I cannot speak about the support I receive. In fact, my interest is associated with a research objective on how the integration of migrant and refugee children is received in schools and in particular the concrete policy measures for the reception and integration of these children.
Anyway, I can share what has been done in Portugal for the reception of refugee children in schools and the support available.
The Ministry of Education provides manuals and other guides to support the integration of these children, and it is important to ascertain the effective use and dissemination of these materials. Does this support reach the schools, the teachers who welcome these children in their classrooms?

Petrina ALB

2022-06-08 12:27:09 UTC

Some schools that are in areas with a high percentage of immigrant students that have arrived to our nation (or autonomous community, if you prefer so) in the previous years, have a special section or teacher that works with these newcomers to provide them with the linguistic and cultural skills they need to incorporate fully to the mainstream class.