Best practices of teaching in an inclusive classroom
In this topic, the best practices in the education of Roma and the education of migrant children are being listed.
The project has documented more than 60 good practices in the field, which are described and referenced in the synthesis report of the project in some detail. The partnership has identified the following ‘best’ practices as particularly interesting.
General Principles of interventions in the area of migrant and Roma inclusion in schools
- Teacher, as well as volunteer training, should be based on the insight that migration is a reality, and it should be accepted as a standard situation in a transnational society.
- Being useful for the factual population in the migration, transnational society should be accepted as the general mission and core of professionalism for schools and individual teachers alike.
- “Inclusiveness in diversity” within the framework of individual democratic individual and civic rights in contrast to “integration” into a presupposed host “culture” should be used as a framework concept for an up-to-date “migration pedagogy” (Mecheril), which can be useful also to guide education in a transnational society.
The acceptance of diversity is the acceptance of individual differences and not the definition of individuals by their supposed determination by cultural or national background. - Working with diversity in education, therefore, must avoid the “othering” of individuals due to their background or “identity.”
- Practical necessities of developing abilities that are useful in the current host society must be combined and balanced with the development of competencies that will be useful in the original home country as well as all over in Europe. Models like “International Schools,” which are widely used by high income and highly mobile international experts for the education of their children, can give some insights into the framework for school with a global perspective.
- The potential of digital media for teaching and validating competencies in a transnational and multilingual learning environment must be more widely used.
- Competencies for a migration society cannot be developed on individual teacher competence level alone. The development of teacher competence must be part of a school, education system, and overall social system development. The capability for participation in school and system development must, therefore, be part of teacher competence development.
- Dynamic evolution of societies characterises Europe, and therefore, the mission and methodology of education are also changing. The educational system must be reformed continuously.
- Teacher training is not a one-time period, but teacher learning is life-long learning. Adequate attention and resources must be used for this learning and reflection of practice.
- Learning adequate competences cannot be limited to knowledge alone, but must include actual reflected experience in diverse national, cultural and social settings.
- International good practices must not only be communicated but also experienced.
Examples of best practices
InMigraKids (Germany)
A holistic concept for the intercultural opening of schools, working with parents, aided by a pool of voluntary language mediators from more than 30 languages.
Roma assistant (Slovenia)
Trained mediators from the Roma community help children to overcome emotional and linguistic impediments before inclusion in kindergarten or school and to act as a liaison between the kindergarten or school and the Roma community.
Cactus project (Italy)
The project develops digital learning and textbook material in simplified Italian in all subjects to assist students in accessing learning in all subjects while at the same time acquiring the Italian language through this topic-specific learning material.
