Integration through Education: Opportunities for Refugees and Migrants
Integration through Education: Opportunities for Refugees and Migrants
High schools are the primary setting where refugees (youth as well as adults) learn about different cultures, improve language abilities, and acquire crucial life skills for further growth and development. However, educational spaces (including informal and non-formal) also provide a platform for the acculturation of students, not just in academic terms, but also through better understanding of the host community.
Providing refugees and migrants with opportunities for inclusive, quality education ensures smooth integration for both the newly arrived and their host communities.
The use of dialogue to support education is also vital, because it provides refugees with an increased understanding of their rights, supports them in language learning and helps them to better engage with their host country’s culture. Additionally, dialogue is useful for host communities as lack of awareness about culture and religion, as well as about the religious beliefs of others, can lead to discrimination and reduce the capacity of communities to deal with change and meet the needs of citizens.
Welcoming experts in the fields of intercultural education and migration, this webinar will explore the role education plays in shaping the social inclusion of refugees and migrants in Europe, as well as examine present challenges and opportunities.
Join the discussion and register now!
SPEAKERS
Barry van Driel
Barry van Driel is senior staff member of the Anne Frank House, where he is responsible for teacher training and curriculum development for more than a decade. Barry has been the Editor in Chief of the international academic journal Intercultural Education since 2000 and is presently President of the International Association for Intercultural Education (IAIE). He has served as senior education consultant to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw as well as a consultant the FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency). He serves as a consultant to the European Commission in multiple capacities. He was lead author of the 2015 NESET II report entitled “Education Policies and Practices to Foster Tolerance, Respect for Diversity and Civic Responsibility for Children and Young People in the EU.” He was team leader for a European Commission initiated project mapping how Initial Teacher Education Institutions prepare future teachers to work in diverse classrooms, and is also expert consultant for the European Commission ET2020 Working Group on Promoting Citizenship and the Common Values of Freedom, Tolerance and Non-Discrimination through Education. Since 2010 he has been a jury member of the prestigious UNAOC-BMW Intercultural Innovation awards and has been chair of the jury since 2013.
Claudia Koehler
Claudia Koehler is a sociologist; her areas of expertise include migration, education, integration, youth and community development, and cooperation between Europe and Africa. She is the Executive Director of Farafina Institute – a think tank working on issues of participation, wellbeing and human rights of people in African countries and of people of African origins in Europe. She was a senior researcher at the european forum for migration studies for ten years. Recently she has conducted comparative studies on educational opportunities of refugees, in Europe, as well as youth empowerment, capacity building and exchange programs in Europe and Africa. She is a Board member of SACHES – Southern African Comparative and History of Education Society and SAPDN - Southern African Policy and Development Nexus, and a former Board member of SIRIUS – Policy Network on Migrant Education.
MODERATOR(S)
Roxana Claudia Tompea
Roxana Claudia Tompea is an intern with the Programme for the Social Inclusion of People Seeking Refuge in Europe. The programme strives to provide integration through dialogue between migrants and people seeking refuge, and their respective local host communities. Before joining KAICIID, Roxana worked within UNIDO’s External Relations and Policy Research Directorate, and at various institutional branches within the Romanian Government. She is currently a MAIS (Master of Advanced International Studies) candidate at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, with a background in International Relations and Politics with Public Administration. Alongside languages, her key interests are in the fields of diplomacy, migration and foreign affairs.
