Description
The SIREE project aims to improve the social and economic integration of refugees by increasing their involvement in the educational process and increasing their economic independence by stimulating self-employment. In doing so, the project responds to the needs arising from the recent influx of refugees in Europe. The 2 Seas region (France, the Netherlands, England and Belgium) is grappling with the challenges of integrating these families into both the educational and economic fabric. The regional school systems fail to integrate correctly the children, who are characterized by missed school years and confronted with a new education system. There is also a limited involvement of the parents and limited support for the teachers. The project will address the societal challenge of social exclusion by improving access to education and self-employment through the method of co-creation. In education, across the different partners, 40 new learning communities will be merged, resulting in more parental involvement in children's education, more children in school, more influx into adult education, better-trained teachers to support refugees, 50 new independent entrepreneurs and 4 new networks to support and develop entrepreneurship. The project is an Interreg 2 Seas programme 2014-2020 and is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
- Access to compulsory education
- Children complete compulsory education
- Children maintain their cultural identity while adopting new cultural values and intercultural competences
- Children remain in (formal) education beyond compulsory levels / Access to (formal) non-compulsory education
- Children's academic skills
- Children's competence in host language
- Children's life satisfaction / happiness
- Children's sense of belonging
- Friends and peers (bridges)
- Friends and peers (support)
- Institutions
- Teachers
- Types & levels of (formal) non-compulsory education attended
Evaluation ex post
OpportUnity, Siree's final event is being hosted in September 2021. It will be a celebration of people with a migration background, SIREE's achievements, and a unique opportunity to get closer to the learning, research, and entrepreneurial communities across the partners' entire network.
Projects’ deliverables
Case Studies
https://www.siree.eu/copy-of-entrepreneurship-documents
Reproducibility
A toolbox has been created for educators - tools to use with students co-creatively during Learning Community meetings
https://www.siree.eu/educators-toolbox
Motivation for the submission
ACE conducted interviews with Youth workers funded by SIREE to work with migrant children by supporting them in schools and in their communities. Siree Youth workers were part of our MESO level interviews because they were employed by the city, funded through SIREE, to help empower migrant children to integrate in Education and in the workplace.
Additional comments
See attached report: Dimitri Van Maele & Miranda Poeze, TRANSCENDING EDUCATIONAL BOUNDARIES Challenges to the educational inclusion of refugees in Europe’s 2 Seas area
