Exchange of knowledge and good practice to enhance the education of refugee and sylum seeking youth.

Context and ObjectivesThe central topic of the Erasmus+ strategic partnership project ''Exchange of knowledge and good practice to enhance the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth'' (hereafter referred to as RefuEdu) is refugee education.The drastic rise in asylum applicants in recent years has placed increased pressure on EU Member States to develop strategies for effectively integrating newly arrived migrants into society. A record number of over 1.2 million first time asylum seekers registered in 2015 (Eurostat, 2015). Almost 30% of those were children. The provision of equal educational chances remains a challenge in the educational contexts of EU Member States with young people with a migrant background being found at a particular disadvantage. Research has shown that education is one of the most important paths to the structural integration of refugees and young asylum seekers (RAS). Currently there is insufficient understanding of the challenges that these youth face and inadequate transnational sharing of knowledge regarding potential solutions. The objectives of the RefuEdu project are to facilitate the exchange of experience and good practice in refugee education among different groups of stakeholders and among different countries and to generate mutual learning effects in refugee education. Also, to increase the ability of stakeholders to apply functioning methods and strategies for the support of the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth across European countries and promote multi-stakeholder and transnational cooperation in the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth. Thereby, the main goal of the project is to enhance the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth in Europe.Number and profile of participating organisations
The project group consists out of nine organizations from seven European countries. Profiles are universities, NGO’s, research institutes and expertise centers all active in the fields of migration and integration.Description of the main activities
We organized 3 transnational learning events (LTT) where stakeholders (school staff, decision makers, volunteers, social workers) exchanged good practices and effective policies in refugee education in their countries. Also, we produced 1 Intellectual Output: 1) A policy and practice handbook on refugee and asylum seeker youth' education with indicators to track the adoption and implementation of the recommendations for practitioners and policy makers dealing with the education of refugees and asylum seeking youth in policy and practice. In addition, we had 4 Transnational Partner meetings.Results and impact attained
- In total, 100 project participants from different groups of stakeholders and from 7 different EU countries have a raised awareness on experience and good practices as well as effective policies on the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth (RAS) in Europe. - Project participants have gained a greater understanding and knowledge of the barriers and potential solutions for the education of refugees and asylum seeking youth. - Increased opportunity for education stakeholders to build and strengthen network at both national and EU level. Thereby, increasing multi-stakeholder and transnational cooperation in the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth.
-Increased ability of education stakeholders for actual implementation of functioning methods and strategies for the support of the education of refugee and asylum seeking youth across European countries.
- The project generated mutual learning effects in refugee education through the exchange of knowledge between different stakeholders and sharing the project outcomes with a wider audience.The overall impact of the project is increased and improved ability of stakeholders to deal with the particular situation RAS are faced with, respond to their needs and support them in the development of their potentials. Also, increased and improved ability of policy makers to respond to the particular situation refugee and asylum seeking youth are faced with through the formulation of policies which abandon barriers and foster the fast integration of this group into European education systems. At the European level the projects increase and improve networking and cooperation among education stakeholders from different EU countries, increased awareness on the EU level about barriers in refugee and asylum seeking youth' education and potentials to eliminate these barriers (including the possibility to plan steps for policy responses based on the findings and recommendations). Longer-term benefitsThe main long-­term intended benefit of this project is the provision of equal and equitable education for refugee and asylum seeking youth in the participating countries and other EU countries.