New project to support the integration of children with immigrant background in school education

09/03/2021

This project aims to solve the challenges posed by the integration of the migrant families that have arrived in Europe in the past few years, which results in the European educational systems facing a variety of cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic and ethnic challenges. The New ABC project (Networking the Educational World. Across Boundaries for Community Building) has been created to overcome these challenges through education, which is a key factor when integrating students with immigrant background whilst also achieving a higher efficiency in the elaboration of educational and inclusion policies.

Led by the University of Bologna and financed by the Horizon 2020 European Programme, the New ABC project will last 4 years during which nine innovation actions will be developed in European schools. Professionals of the fiels of education, arts, gender studies, translation and interpretating, psychology and sociology take part in the project.

Marta Arumí, Gema Rubio and Mireia Vargas, researchers of the MIRAS research group of the Department of Translation, Interpreting and East Asian Studies, will coordinate one of the workpackages aimed to replicate the pilot experiences carried out in the project and they will also lead two pilot experiences at primary and secondary schools in Catalonia. The first experience, Teacher training and family involvement in pluralistic approaches key language education, aims at providing teachers with informative and training tools in a second language in order to improve the management of multilingualism. Together We Learn Our Worlds, the second experience, will explore the role of teachers as cultural mediators who can support their students throughout the process of integration and help them build confidence.

Children and youth will also be an active part in the project, which will also rely on the cooperation with schools, teachers, NGOs and local entities and families.