Periodic Reporting for period 3 - IMMERSE (Integration Mapping of refugee and Migrant Children in Schools and Other Experiential Environments in Europe)
Période du rapport: 2021-12-01 au 2022-12-31
Every European country is impacted, either directly or indirectly, as countries of origin, transit, destination or resettlement countries by the recent migration trends towards and within the EU.
One of the most fundamental challenges lying ahead for the EU consists of the successful integration of these recent arrivals, as well as of longer-established migrant populations, and their descendants. As emphasized by the OECD, the ability of societies to maintain social cohesion in the presence of large migration flows depends on their capacity to integrate foreign-born populations (OECD, 2018). Schools, migrant reception centres across Europe and policymakers are in urgent need of policy recommendations in order to support migrant children.
The general objective of IMMERSE is to draw a representative image of national and Europe’s reality on refugee and migrant children’s integration allowing to develop policy papers with specific recommendations targeting both policymakers and educational institutions to foster diverse and inclusive societies. IMMERSE aims to incorporate all relevant stakeholders (children and their families, researchers, NGOs, policymakers, educators or learning institutions) in the co-creation and validation of the dashboard of indicators. This will lead to data that best reflects the particular needs and expectations of the relevant stakeholders.
One of the most fundamental challenges lying ahead for the EU consists of the successful integration of these recent arrivals, as well as of longer-established migrant populations, and their descendants. As emphasized by the OECD, the ability of societies to maintain social cohesion in the presence of large migration flows depends on their capacity to integrate foreign-born populations (OECD, 2018). Schools, migrant reception centres across Europe and policymakers are in urgent need of policy recommendations in order to support migrant children.
The general objective of IMMERSE is to draw a representative image of national and Europe’s reality on refugee and migrant children’s integration allowing to develop policy papers with specific recommendations targeting both policymakers and educational institutions to foster diverse and inclusive societies. IMMERSE aims to incorporate all relevant stakeholders (children and their families, researchers, NGOs, policymakers, educators or learning institutions) in the co-creation and validation of the dashboard of indicators. This will lead to data that best reflects the particular needs and expectations of the relevant stakeholders.
To meet the project objectives, a new integrated methodology has been designed by the academic partners engaging children and other most relevant stakeholders in co-creation activities. Including co-creation components at key stages of the decision-making process will make the measures of integration youth-led, relevant and socially useful. The main outputs of the project are a co-created dashboard of indicators about migrant and refugee children’s integration, ICT solutions for data collection, monitoring and safe database storage and a set of national and EU recommendations and best practices at the local level on the integration of refugees and migrant children in Europe.
The use of co-creation research strategies to explore key parameters related to intercultural competence, wellbeing and gender affecting children’s social and educational integration led to a collaborative process of children’s and stakeholders’ engagement. The qualitative methodology for the co-creation of the dashboard of indicators involved iterative phases of workshops with children’s and stakeholders’ to identify the intermediate and final outputs, giving priority to their expressed experiences and their empowerment.
Following the research framework and dashboard of indicators established in this manner, during this reporting period, the IMMERSE researchers have collected and monitored data related to those indicators from children aged 6‐18 years old children in 6 European countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain), employing both survey data collection and qualitative research with harder-to-reach populations. Data analysis will draw a representative image of National and Europe’s reality on refugee and migrant children’s integration leading the consortium to develop policy papers with specific recommendations on migrant and refugee children’s integration at the national and European level targeting both policymakers and educational institutions to foster diverse and inclusive societies.
Additionally, good practices on migrant children integration were collected at national and EU and are publicly available in the Open Digital Database (ODD) integrated in the IMMERSE website and HUB. This last one is an online platform that was developed to build up a virtual community of institutions dealing with Migrant and Refugee children as a space to share their experiences and concerns.
The use of co-creation research strategies to explore key parameters related to intercultural competence, wellbeing and gender affecting children’s social and educational integration led to a collaborative process of children’s and stakeholders’ engagement. The qualitative methodology for the co-creation of the dashboard of indicators involved iterative phases of workshops with children’s and stakeholders’ to identify the intermediate and final outputs, giving priority to their expressed experiences and their empowerment.
Following the research framework and dashboard of indicators established in this manner, during this reporting period, the IMMERSE researchers have collected and monitored data related to those indicators from children aged 6‐18 years old children in 6 European countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain), employing both survey data collection and qualitative research with harder-to-reach populations. Data analysis will draw a representative image of National and Europe’s reality on refugee and migrant children’s integration leading the consortium to develop policy papers with specific recommendations on migrant and refugee children’s integration at the national and European level targeting both policymakers and educational institutions to foster diverse and inclusive societies.
Additionally, good practices on migrant children integration were collected at national and EU and are publicly available in the Open Digital Database (ODD) integrated in the IMMERSE website and HUB. This last one is an online platform that was developed to build up a virtual community of institutions dealing with Migrant and Refugee children as a space to share their experiences and concerns.
The Conceptual Framework of IMMERSE has brought together the findings of two main research areas: migration literature on integration and the literature on socio-educational inclusion of children. Based on this synthesis, IMMERSE has defined five constitutive dimensions of children integration results – legal, language and culture, well-being, social relations and educational achievements – and the barriers and facilitators – reflecting key clusters of factors affecting their integration process at the meso and macro levels. Children, families and other stakeholders provided their perspectives to define the integration process and components in their own terms based on their expert knowledge and experience.Researchers contrasted these insights with the existing literature.
Besides this particular synthesis, the central IMMERSE contribution has been the development of a dashboard of indicators that should enable the comparative monitoring of children’s integration processes across different European contexts. The project followed a co-creation stepwise methodology, being children, families and other stakeholders’ voices in the 6 project countries the key turning points for decision-making of the indicators’ development process. The resulting dashboard comprises 30 indicators: 14 represent integration results (observed for children), and 16 represent key barriers and facilitators at the meso and macro levels (mostly centred on the school and relevant integration and school policies).
At this point, three different policy briefs have been developed, including recommendations regarding (1) a systemic approach to immigrant and refugee children integration, (2) the protection of migrant and refugee children from the social effects of the covid-19 crisis and (3) the reception and hosting of unaccompanied migrant minors in the EU towards a unified and child-centred model.
Additionally, a comprehensive set of positive, innovative, and effective 109 good practices and resources for the socio-educational inclusion of migrant and refugee children have been identified and are publicly available in the Online Digital Database. In addition to their identification and description, some strategies to promote their replicability were indicated.
As part of the co-creation strategy, several rounds of consultations have taken place throughout the whole research project with migrant and refugee children, as well as their families and teachers. These consultations allowed IMMERSE to incorporate their voices recognising the power community has to identify their own needs and resources and to gain confidence in their own ability to solve some of their difficulties. Finally, partners have also started several rounds of consultation with children and teachers to develop policy recommendations based, not only on the project results, but also on the stakeholders’ insights about what it is more relevant for them and better adjusts to their reality to promote further inclusion. The project will have in this way a direct impact on the empowerment of the children and communities engaged in the project since the inception of the dashboard of indicators. It will also have a more indirect impact on the well-being and inclusion of migrant and refugee children, by producing specific tools and policy recommendations that are grounded on children’s and teachers’ assessments of their realities and needs, making them more relevant for them, and more effective.
Besides this particular synthesis, the central IMMERSE contribution has been the development of a dashboard of indicators that should enable the comparative monitoring of children’s integration processes across different European contexts. The project followed a co-creation stepwise methodology, being children, families and other stakeholders’ voices in the 6 project countries the key turning points for decision-making of the indicators’ development process. The resulting dashboard comprises 30 indicators: 14 represent integration results (observed for children), and 16 represent key barriers and facilitators at the meso and macro levels (mostly centred on the school and relevant integration and school policies).
At this point, three different policy briefs have been developed, including recommendations regarding (1) a systemic approach to immigrant and refugee children integration, (2) the protection of migrant and refugee children from the social effects of the covid-19 crisis and (3) the reception and hosting of unaccompanied migrant minors in the EU towards a unified and child-centred model.
Additionally, a comprehensive set of positive, innovative, and effective 109 good practices and resources for the socio-educational inclusion of migrant and refugee children have been identified and are publicly available in the Online Digital Database. In addition to their identification and description, some strategies to promote their replicability were indicated.
As part of the co-creation strategy, several rounds of consultations have taken place throughout the whole research project with migrant and refugee children, as well as their families and teachers. These consultations allowed IMMERSE to incorporate their voices recognising the power community has to identify their own needs and resources and to gain confidence in their own ability to solve some of their difficulties. Finally, partners have also started several rounds of consultation with children and teachers to develop policy recommendations based, not only on the project results, but also on the stakeholders’ insights about what it is more relevant for them and better adjusts to their reality to promote further inclusion. The project will have in this way a direct impact on the empowerment of the children and communities engaged in the project since the inception of the dashboard of indicators. It will also have a more indirect impact on the well-being and inclusion of migrant and refugee children, by producing specific tools and policy recommendations that are grounded on children’s and teachers’ assessments of their realities and needs, making them more relevant for them, and more effective.