N° EAC/23/2010Study on educational support for newly

arrived migrant children

SIRIUS Stakeholder meeting13 September, Brussels

Hanna Siarova, PPMI

Presentation• Why NAMS?• Availability of targeted educational support

across 15 countries in Europe• Importance of system design• Conclusions and recommendations

Aim of the study

• To provide policy-relevant analysis and advice on educational support for NAMS;

• To provide examples of good practice in educational support for NAMS.

Why NAMS?NAMS is a new target group that has not been yet explicitly identified

Greater challenges in accessing and performing well in formal education in terms of: Language acquisition; Different learning styles; Different curriculum; Cultural differences; Lack of adequate social support networks; Placement into appropriate class.

Approach to addressing NAMS

Out of the sample of 15

Identification of NAMS as a specific target group

BE, FR, IE, LU, SE, UK

Non-identification of NAMS as a specific target group

AT, CY, CZ, DK, GR, IT, NL, NO , DE

Why NAMS? (cont.)NAMS in most of the cases show worse results in terms of performance and participation in education

Need for extra educational support

Diversity of targeted measuresAccording to the type of targetingWay of addressing NAMS Educational support measures Countries Identifying NAMS as a specific target group

Policy measures specifically targeting NAMS

Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden, United Kingdom

Non-identifying NAMS as a specific target group

Measures targeting migrant students in countries where immigration has been a recent phenomenon

Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece

Measures addressing particular needs that are usually peculiar to NAMS

Austria, Netherlands, Norway

No NAMS-targeted measures

Denmark, Germany, Italy

According to thematic area

Thematic areas AT BE CY CZ DE DK FR GR IE IT LU NL NO SE UK Total Linguistic support + + + +

No

targ

eted

m

easu

res

N

o ta

rget

ed

mea

sure

s

+ + +

No

targ

eted

m

easu

res

+ + + + + 12 Academic support + + + + + + + 6 Outreach and cooperation + 1

Intercultural education + 1

?Targeted policy

measures

Improved accessHigher participationBetter performance

What is the finding?

Importance of system design

• Existence of early tracking tend to lead to worse performance of migrants

• School autonomy and no ability tracking explain a number of cases with low early school leaving

Content of policiesThematic support: country classification

Strong academic support and intercultural education are important in explaining little gaps in reading performance and low ESL

Intercultural education and strong outreach and cooperation tend to explain lower school segregation.

ComprehensiveEducation

system

Key message

System design

Educational support Policies (targeted

& non-targeted

Improved accessHigher participationBetter performance

Socio-economic and othercontextual factors

Educational support models (*the list is not exhaustive)

• Comprehensive model (DK, SE): all four thematic areas of support are well-pronounced. Defining feature: integrated approach toward education.

• Compensatory support model (AT, BE): focus on linguistic support and intercultural education. Defining feature: compensatory measures to meet NAMS’ needs.

• Integration model (IE): the policy is less focused on language support, but on three other thematic aspects. Defining feature: intercultural approach aimed at inclusive education.

• Centralised entry support model (LU, FR): well-pronounced academic support and outreach policies. Defining feature: comprehensive centralised receiving mechanism.

• Non-systematic support model (CY, GR, IT): the support is fragmented and not backed with implementation policies and funding. Defining feature: randomness of the support provided.

Recommendations• It is important that policy-making focuses on an integrated approach to

NAMS’ inclusion.• It is essential to avoid school segregation.• Ensuring equal opportunities is vital for NAMS’ integration into formal

education.• Schools and municipalities should be given a reasonable level of

autonomy, so that they can better address the specificities of local needs.• It is important for governments to develop a comprehensive system of

monitoring and evaluation of implemented policies and achievements of migrant children.

• It is important to ensure a smooth process for NAMS’ transition and integration into the education process through four thematic areas: linguistic support, academic support, parental and community involvement and intercultural education.

Another question: what are the ways of implementing them?

List of good practice policies for effective NAMS’ integration into education and society

Linguistic support • Promoting a positive and consistent approach to language

development at all levels of education• Centrally developed curriculum for host language teaching• Compulsory training of teachers in acquisition of the host language as

a second language• Comprehensive system of assessment of language competences• Early language stimulation• Integrating language and content learning• Continuous language support• Valuing and provision of mother tongue instruction Academic support • Ensuring a well-developed reception of migrant students and initial

assessment of migrants’ education background• Placing NAMS into an appropriate class based on the assessment of

their previous schooling, abilities and needs• Monitoring system ensuring adequate tracking and diagnosis of

student’s performance and potential• Qualified teachers to work with culturally diverse students• Smooth transition between reception and regular classes• Prevention of early-schools leaving and provision of re-integration

programmes

Parental and community involvement • Encouraging parents to participate in NAMS’ education process,

through home-school tutors and partnerships, as well as sensitivity to different approaches to parental involvement;

• Encouraging school cooperation in sharing good practice experience in NAMS’ integration.

• Provision of detailed information about schools system and opportunities for children

• Empowering immigrant parents through improving their language skills and involving into school-governing bodies

• Capitalising on the resources of immigrant communities and local partners

Intercultural education • Ensuring a positive environment at school• Compulsory training of teachers for diversity• Employment of teachers with an immigrant background• Educating and benefiting from diversity through bilingual

coordinators and advisors.

There is more than one solution

Further information

• Study on educational support to newly arrived migrant children. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/more-information/reports-and-studies_en.htm

• SIRIUS network (Policy network on education of immigrant children): http://www.sirius-migrationeducation.org/

Thank you for your attention

Actions for the EU

• Immigrant education indicators in Eurostat• More targeted use of EIF and ESF• TWG in Education OMC (peer review and

learning, benchmarking)• Encourage countries to make self-reflections• Make better use of EU networks• Policy handbook