“Development of Intercultural Competences in Different Educational Contexts – National Roundtable for Portugal 2019”

Immigration to Portugal started to increase significantly in the late 90s and early 2000s, increasing from 1.3% in 1991 to 8.3% in 2015 (Eurostat, 2016). In 2017, the percentage was 13,9%, with a total number of 480.300 residents with legal status (SEF/GEPF, 2018). The countries of origin with the highest percentages are Brazil (21,9%), followed by Cape Verde (7,2%), Romania (6,4%), Ukraine (6,1), UK (5,5%), China (5,5%), France (4,1%), Italy (4,1%), Angola (3,9%), Guinea (3,4%) and a percentage of 3,4 % for other nationalities (SEF/GEPF, 2018). The Governing of Education is under the Ministry of Education (MoE), which has the mission to conceptualize, conduct, execute and evaluate national policy concerning the education system, from preschool education, to basic and secondary education, as well as extra-school education . Other organizations under government action or outside this scope play an important role in promoting formal and non-formal education. There are laws that try to support the integration of migrants, but are not specific to immigrant children’s education: Decree-law nº 6/2001 of 18th January, which ensures basic education for all, no matter their nationality, and the integration of the curriculum of education for citizenship; implementing order nº7/2006 which defends the recognition and respect for the individual needs of all students and ensures the support to learn the Portuguese language; in July 2005, the Guidance Document for Portuguese as Non-Mother Tongue was published. Concerning the migrant population, the High Commissioner for Migration (HCM) is articulated with the MoE in the field of education. The HCM is a governmental institute, dependent of the Council of Ministers, which promotes public policies that favour social inclusion, equal opportunities and diversity appreciation. Worthy of note, at this level, is the Strategic Plan for Migrations, aimed at fostering answers to address complex problems, towards the development of a modern and fair migration policy. As mentioned on the website of the HCM: “The High Commission for Migration, Public Institution, directly dependent of the Presidency of the Ministers Council, has the mission of collaborating on determining, executing and assessing the public, transversal and sectorial policies concerning migrations, which are relevant for the integration of migrants in the national, international and Portuguese-speaking contexts, for the integration of the immigrants and ethnic groups – in particular, the Roma Communities – and for managing and valuing the diversity between cultures, ethnicities and religions” . Under the aforementioned strategic plan, there are specific measures to promote intercultural education and to address school abandonment. Under the promotion of social inclusion of children and young people from vulnerable socio-economic contexts, there was the creation of the Programa Escolhas [Choices Program], a national governmental program with the central mission of promoting social inclusion of children and young people from vulnerable socio-economic contexts, including migrant children and young people. Educational policies for immigrant children Under the promotion of social inclusion of children and young people from vulnerable socio-economic contexts, there was the creation of the Programa Escolhas [Choices Program], a national governmental program with the central mission of promoting social inclusion of children and young people from vulnerable socio-economic contexts. This is done by involving children and young people in after school programs to enhance their engagement in informal educational activities, aiming to also promote school engagement among at-risk children and young people, as well as promote several activities, such as computer learning, language learning, sports, etc. The Choices Program is applied in vulnerable socio-economic contexts, not exactly schools, but in connection with schools that serve those contexts. Students in many schools from those contexts attend this program. An ‘Intercultural School Stamp’ policy initiative has been developed since 2012, involving the General-Directorate of Education (MoE), the HCM and the Aga Khan Foundation, and it evaluates schools and assigns them to different levels, depending on how school practices 1) promote the recognition and value of diversity as an opportunity and source of learning for all; and 2) implement specific strategies/actions to promote interculturality, equal opportunity and educational success for all. This framework also aims to provide means for schools to critically examine and improve their practices toward interculturality, and to motivate schools to share knowledge and experience (Szelei et al, 2019: 179). Another joint initiative to promote Intercultural Education in Schools is the Intercultural Schools Network. The Intercultural Schools Network is a program also promoted by the HCM,I.P., the General-Directorate of Education and the Aga Khan Foundation, to support the capacity building of schools and the sharing of good practices in intercultural education. The Network is composed of schools committed to promoting the reception, integration and educational success of all children and young people, regardless of their cultural or national origins, and to promoting a culture and practice of opening up to difference and establishing positive interactions between students and other members of the educational community from different cultures. Participation in the network means to integrate intercultural education practices in the School Education Project and the Annual Plan of Activities in the following areas: culture of the School; Curriculum (content, resources and didactic activities) and Community engagement; to provide intercultural training sessions to different actors of the educational community; to participate in mentoring, supervision and monitoring activities and to share practices and resources using a collaborative platform. In 2017-2019 the network involved around 120 schools.

NATIONAL ROUND TABLE 2019

Report of the discussion

Multi-lingualism and the gap between native and non-native speakers – National Roundtable for Slovenia 2019

At the first NRT in 2018 main challenges of implementing the national strategy of migrant children inclusion into education system in Slovenia were identified. At the second NRT in 2019 the focus on the central theme was maintained: the premises of multilingualism in an inclusive learning environment, and three main topics were addressed. They underlie the problem of inclusion of migrant children to school and represent the main issues in the Slovenian context regarding national reform priorities and changes:
  • Multilingualism in the pedagogical process: How to successfully implement the translanguaging and plurilingual approaches into education practice, which emphasize the right to individual’s use of all his/her linguistic resources in the process of learning.
  • The gap between the mastering of language of schooling/language of the majority and academic achievements of migrant children and young people: How to enable inclusive and equitable education environments regardless of their cultural and language background, socio-economic status and the ‘temporary staying’ status.
The challenges of involvement of migrants in school and developing the strategies for encouraging their active involvement in the democratic processes of the school: How to include migrants (migrant parents and other adults in local communities) in various school activities as translators, teaching assistants, leaders of extra-curricular activities or volunteers, in order to connect school with the local community and encourage better integration of migrant children and young people.
Report of the discussion

Developing educational policies for people with a migrant background – National Roundtable for Spain 2019

The law in Spain states that the public Administration is responsible for implementing practices that promote the integration of pupils with a migrant background into the education system. Consequently, it is up to the regional governments (comunidades autónomas) to develop such integration in their contexts. The outcome of all is a heterogeneous map of 17 education programmes that implement this regulation in a diverse way. Spain hosted 797,618 pupils with a migrant background in its classrooms at all levels of education during the 2018-2019 academic course. All those students were integrated in an education system that was ruled under the principle of equity. In terms of schooling, pupils with a migrant background were supplied with full universal access to compulsory education between the ages of 6 and 16 as their native peers, with no discrimination at all, and children between 3 and 6 years attended to pre-school establishments in rates higher than 95%. However, the Spanish education system shows a significant gap in schooling from 0 to 3 years old, as well as in vocational education. This prints a significant impact on migrant population, with low rates of schooling of their youngest children. Surprisingly, the migrant population rates in vocational education are higher than the average, as this education has a low prestige in Spanish society, and it is mainly devoted for early school leavers and those without an academic accreditation. In terms of academic achievement, data show that there is still a long way to go. Recent research states that the probability of repeating a low socioeconomic quartile pupil is almost 6 times higher than that of a high socioeconomic quartile pupil. If we consider that pupils with a migrant background are mostly concentred within the low socioeconomic quartile, we easily conclude that these pupils achieve worse academic results than their native classmates in big proportions. Grade repetition rates are also higher for migrant pupils than their native peers. The policy measures for moving on equity for all (migrant pupils included) are clear: a significant budget increase, better school management, improving the curriculum model, improving the both internal and external school assessment system, improving teacher training, promoting a democratic management, introducing community education and increasing schools’ autonomy. The more the education system becomes better for all, the more the pupils with a migrant background will become more successful at school. In 2019, the Spanish SIRIUS National Round Table focused the attention on three of these measures: the promotion of a democratic school management through the improvement of migrant parents participation, the teacher training addressed to those teachers working in highly concentrated settings, and the participation of youngsters in non-formal education, especially those identified as unaccompanied minors.
Report of the discussion

A Comparative Report of 15 Multi-Stakeholder National Meetings on Migrant Education – 2018

SIRIUS builds up on the national (and regional) activities and knowledge creation that took place between 2012 to 2014 with the European Commission’s support. It is expected that the national (and regional) activities of the Policy Network on Migrant Education (SIRIUS) have a direct impact on national policy implementation across the European Union (EU) with the goal of enabling inclusive and equitable education environments for children and young people with a migrant background.
Report of the discussion

Reinforcing all key competences for migrant pupils through non-formal education: the Escolhas programme and its impact on migrant pupils – a Peer Learning from Portugal 2018

The proposed action SIRIUS 2.0 – Policy Network on Migrant Education (EAC/S28/2016) aims to promote co-operation between different stakeholders, support inclusive policy development and implementation at different governance levels and facilitate the integration of children and young people with migration background in school education.
Report of the discussion

Statement on the revision of the EU Key Competences Framework 2018

Sirius Network acknowledges the importance of the common framework of crucial competences for life across Member States, presenting a step forward to a holistic approach to education and training. However, the Network stresses the need for further synergies and a better alignment with other existing frameworks and researches, such as from the OECD and Council of Europe.
Report of the discussion