On February 1st 2021, the kick-off meeting of the project DEVOTE – Developing the Competencies of Teachers to Integrate Students from Migrant Background into European Schools took place online and was hosted by ALDA, project’s leader.
Funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme, the project will run for 24 months and include 5 partners from Italy, Turkey, Slovenia, Greece and Belgium.
The project DEVOTE aims to strengthen the integration of students with migrant backgrounds in schools and improve their success in education by providing training, coaching and guidance to teachers.
Starting the meeting with a small game, the partners were able to learn a foreign word, which reflects a term or theme related to the school environment. This great exercise enabled participants to put themselves both in the position of a student who does not know the language of a country but who wishes to understand it and in the position of a teacher who tries to teach students a new language. This simulation allowed the participants to better understand the issues at stake in the project.
DEVOTE will strengthen the integration of students with migrant backgrounds in schools and improve their success in education
The partners involved also had the opportunity to share their experiences related to the situation in their country in terms of school management in times of health crisis. But despite the constraints of this situation, they all showed motivation and commitment to the success of the project.
But what are the next steps? The project partners are about to launch a needs analysis directed to teachers and students of the 6 target countries. This will serve to better understand their needs and eventually develop Educational Content which will be at disposal of teachers working with students with migrant backgrounds.
Let’s catch up during the next months to discover the first phase of the project!