Many children are actively and positively engaged in creating their lives and future for themselves \u2013 probably more than we are willing to admit \u2013 but they soon become bounded by what adults think is their best interests. In this regard, the project highlights that the existing social and political order does not offer enough autonomous space where children could independently speak for themselves. Our aim in this regard is to create \u2018a space\u2019 where migrant children of all ages are able to communicate and share their experiences after arriving in receiving societies. The proposed project embarks on a mission to gather their stories in order to support their needs and aspirations when it comes to integration into host societies, with an aim to make heard the voices of the least powerful members of communities, as an argument and factor for change. Our basic standpoint is that child-centered integration policies, integration programmes, practices and initiatives are among most important factors to support migrant children to become partners and participants in the development of a cohesive societies, with equal opportunities and secured rights as individuals, but also as members of minority and migrant groups in different spheres (education, labour market, housing, civil society, etc.).<\/p>\n
The overall objective of the project is to stimulate inclusion of diverse groups of migrant children by adopting child-centered approach to migrant children integration on educational and policy level. The project starts from the fact that European countries and their education systems encounter manifold challenges due to growing ethnic, cultural, linguistic diversity and thereby our specific objectives are:<\/p>\n
Our objective is to gather migrant children\u2019s experiences related to different stages in the integration processes (newly arrived and long-term residents) and different institutional settings (asylum homes, hotspots, refugee camps, schools). Doing child-centred fieldwork with children will improve our understanding of children\u2019s experiences of a life in new social and cultural environments related to the arrival and staying in host societies. It will offer a new insight into the conceptualizations of well-being and needs and help us to understand the the dynamics of integration in relation to educational systems, peer groups, sport, leisure activities and classroom dynamics, psychosocial support services.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n Project\u2019s specific objective is to examine the impact of local children on the integration of migrant children and to give an insight into peer dynamics among local and migrant children. Our aim is not only to identify the potential of local children as a factor in processes of migrant children\u2019s integration, but also to compare indicators of social inclusion and thereby evaluate the level of success in integration, especially by comparing migrant and local children in view of family dynamics, cultural identity, leisure activities, relations with peers, future ambitions, classroom dynamics, gender and religion dimensions, etc.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n Project\u2019s objective is to build on capacity, educational and awareness raising of teachers and educational staff, and for professionals and other adults who come into regular contact with children to better assess risks and meet the specific needs of migrant children in host societies. In this manner the project will contribute to the mutual learning and capacity-building of teachers, who will then be better equipped with the knowledge about their students that is necessary for further development of good solutions and best practices in line with children\u2019s needs when it comes to managing ethnic diversity in schools.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n The proposed project has an objective to overcome integration challenges. For this purpose, Work package 10: Integration Lab is foreseen with an aim to develop new tools and, where possible, to advance effective practices used in schools by teachers for motivating migrant children\u2019s integration and raising awareness and tolerance among local children. This is vital, especially in the light of the call that gives weight not only to mapping integration challenges but, more importantly, to winning them. Having this in mind, special precautions have been taken to avoid the project results becoming end in themselves.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n Creating a child-centred integration policy as a specific objective will involve forming policy that puts the focus on the child while looking at how specific measures respond and impact migrant children\u2019s needs and at the same time acknowledges their well-being. Knowing that policy-makers have been criticized for being excessively selective, merely choosing from those components of expertise that fit their problem definitions, on the one hand, and that researchers have been challenged for being unable to reflect critically on their own problem definitions due to their engagement with policy on the other hand, the project confronts child-centred approach with integration and policy.To get an insight into school peer dynamics in view of the integration process<\/h3>\n
To build on the capacity of teachers and educational staff for diversity managing<\/h3>\n
To develop child-centred tools for stimulating migrant integration<\/h3>\n
To design child-centred integration policy recommendations for diverse decision-makers<\/h3>\n
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