Extending teacHers' cOmPetences in the effective teaching of literacy, numeracy and digital skills to rEFUgee chiLdren

As a result of wars and the refugee crisis, a significant percentage of refugee children currently residing in EU Member States have been out of the school environment for several years, and many have never attended school, although they are of school age. All EU MSs, and especially Mediterranean countries such as Malta, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus which have been experiencing an influx of refugees, in parallel with a severe economic crisis, face the challenge of successfully integrating refugee children in their education systems. However, education policies have been very slow in targeting the needs of migrant pupils. EU statistical data show that children with migrant background tend to have lower educational performance and are more likely to leave school earlier than native children, across the EU. Given the fact that refugee children do not speak the host country language(s) (and/or English) and that most of them have been out of school for a period of time (spanning from some months to several years), teachers need to have specialized knowledge and skills in teaching such vulnerable students. However, according to MIPEX, most countries lack preparation and diversity in the teaching force. Inadequate training or lack of training means that the educational support provided to refugee children does not meet the needs of the target population. The timely and full training of teachers – in particular those in secondary education, where students needs are greater – is more than crucial for the improvement of the school performance of refugee children. In order to contribute to enhancing the performance of secondary school age refugee children lagging behind in literacy, numeracy and digital competences, due to having remained outside the school system for an extended period of time, thus reducing early school leaving in Malta, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus, the project aims at:•Extending and enhancing secondary school teachers’ skills and competences in the teaching of literacy, numeracy and/or digital skills to refugee and/or migrant children with learning gaps due to interrupted education and with minimal native (or English) language skills through online training;•Providing a diagnostic tool for the effective assessment of literacy, numeracy and digital competences, gaps and needs of refugee pupils;•Promoting innovative practices, digital and non-digital, in teaching literacy, numeracy and digital competences to refugee (and/or migrant children) with interrupted education.The above will be achieved through the implementation of the following activities:1 - Capacity building curriculum for teachers1.1 Analysis of teaching challenges and practices 1.2 Development of curriculum for strengthening the capacities of teachers 1.3 Implementation of the curriculum and evaluation2 - Diagnostic tool for the assessment of literacy, numeracy and digital competences, gaps and needs of refugee pupils2.1 Development of the diagnostic tool 2.2 Pilot testing of the tool 3 - Online platform for the training of teachers 3.1 Development of online platform3.2 Pilot implementationBy aiming to enhance the school performance of refugee (and migrant) children through teacher training, the project addresses the objectives set by ET2020 and the new priority areas for further work up to 2020 (Inclusive education, equality, equity, non-discrimination), since it focuses on combatting educational disadvantage by promoting inclusive education. The project also contributes to the objective of improving the quality & efficiency of education and training, especially ensuring high quality teaching. Moreover, the project addresses one of the key targets of Europe 2020 strategy concerning education, i.e. reducing early school leaving rates below 10%; as well as reducing the share of low-achieving 15 year-olds in reading, mathematics and science to less than 15%, and contributes to the further implementation of the EU Action Plan on the integration of 3rd country nationals.