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MEDIA BRIEFING Social Inclusion by Education in Europe's multicultural society |
The INCLUD-ED project was selected out of all the projects in the European Commission's Framework Programme as the host project for the European journalists meeting on Migration and Education. The event took place in Barcelona on the 26th and 27th of April 2010. The European Commission invited more than 30 journalists from different European countries to create a news story and generate a public debate on immigration and educational success on the above dates. The project results have provided evidence to confirm that schools with high percentages of immigrant students improve when they implement successful actions identified by the scientific community, both in terms of academic results and coexistence. The dominant discourse attributes school failure to the presence of high rates of immigrant students in a school. However, these statements are not based on scientific evidence, yet have a high impact on coexistence and on the progressive growth of a racist discourse in Europe. This meeting with journalists was an opportunity to provide results and conclusions based on a rigorous analysis of the educational situation. It was highly significant in terms of creating guidelines for policy-making, and also in terms of the impact on third sector companies, schools and especially families and children. The media impact of such an event is very significant: the previous media briefing organised by the European Commission which was held in Paris, led to more than 200 news stories in various European countries. The meeting in Barcelona is thus a key opportunity to make the results of social science research more visible, and it has already generated an important impact on European media. The Catalan Minister for Education, Mr Ernest Maragall, and the Director of the Science, Economy and Society Directorate General in the European Commission participated in this event. Apart from the results from the INCLUD-ED project, results from other European projects were also presented. These were the EMILIE, EDUMIGROM, and YIPPIE projects. The INCLUD-ED project presentation ended up with a visit of the journalists to a successful school with a high rate of students with immigrant background. Among the successful educational actions identified in this school, one of the key elements is the high levels of family participation in different learning areas and decision-making bodies.
School Mare de Déu de Monserrat, primary school. INCLUD-ED is an integrated project under priority 7 “Citizens and governance in the knowledge-based society” of the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP6). The European Union faces the challenge of creating high quality educational systems and social policies that are more effective and equitable. For further information, please check Includ-Ed website.
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