Project

In the year 2010 every second person who is living in a large city and with an age under 40 years will come from a migrant family. This shows that Integration will be one of the central questions that will decide the future in Europe. There will be, as a consequence, a strong need for more cooperative projects which consolidate integration initiatives from different areas like education, labour market, culture and sport. The networking of language improvement in kindergartens and primary schools and there also to involve the language courses of mothers will be one important point.
The SMILE project aims at providing support to those that work in adult education, in particular with parents of children in early ages (0 to 6 years old), by guiding them in exercising active citizenship to promote the integration of their children and of the whole family and to foster the use of intercultural education since early ages. The integration of regular immigrants is an important element of the policy that the Union progressively develops and the school system is recognised as a place for integration. In the best part of the EU countries, the intercultural approach is included in the general objectives of the national education curricula. But, only in few countries are intercultural objectives associated also to pre-school education. The target groups are trainers, social workers, tutors, professionals working in services for children and families and managers of social enterprises, as well as parents, both immigrant and from local families. The project will run for 2 years.

The main activities and results will be: drafting of a Research on the level of integration of foreign children in the services for children in early ages and on the level of communication and understanding with parents; opening of a project Website; drafting of a Handbook for the evaluation of the intercultural competences of those who work in services for early childhood and families; drafting of a Manual and organisation of a Training Course on the application of the intercultural approach in the education to active citizenship for parents of children in early ages; organisation of intercultural initiatives for the integration of immigrant families in each partner country; production of a photo book with a DVD documenting the activities realised and with testimonials from the people involved.

Duration: 2009-2010

Objectives

  1. To develop the intercultural competences of professionals working in services for families with children in early ages
  2. To favour the integration of children (0-6 years)of first generation immigrants parents and of their families
  3. To promote the intercultural education in services for kids
  4. To raise awareness in parents and to favour their participation
  5. To contribute to the development of  an European attention to  ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity

Target

SHORT TERMS BENEFICIARIES                       educators that work with children
                                                                                    social animators
                                                                                    pre-school teachers
LONG TERM TARGET GROUPS                        parents with children in early ages
                                                                                    local families
                                                                                    children

project

Research Report

Research Report on the level of integration of foreign children in the services for children in early ages and on the level of communication and understanding with parents.
Aims of the report are:

  1. to assess the level of real and felt integration of foreign children within services for families and children within the partner countries;
  2. to identify the competences and training needs of the educators that work in services for families and children within the partner countries;
  3. to compile a list of best practice on the methodologies of communication between parents and managers/directors of services for families and children.

The research will be conducted at documentary level, but also by doing interviews with couples of immigrant and local parents per partner country and through the organisation of a focus group per partner country with the participation of educators and managers of services for families and children.
The research will be published on the website and relevant stakeholders will be able to fill in an on-line form for the evaluation of the report. The report will be available in EN language.

Elaboration of Handbook for the evaluation of educators

Realisation of a Handbook for the evaluation of educators that can be used by managers of services for evaluating the intercultural competences of the educators that work in services for families and for evaluating the level of application of the intercultural approach within the services themselves.
The information needed to compile the Handbook will be gathered through the distribution of questionnaires to managers of services for families per partner country.
The Manual will be published on the website and relevant stakeholders will be able to fill in an on-line form for the evaluation of its usefulness. Paper questionnaires will also be available for evaluation by a group of end users.
The Handbook will be available in EN, IT, RO, DE, SE and GR in paper copy and will be included in the final publication (DVD).

Elaboration of SMILE Training Course

Elaboration of the SMILE training course on the application of the intercultural approach in the education of parents and in the running of services for families and children in early ages. The course will be addressed to animators, educators, trainer, teaching coordinators and managers of social enterprises and services for families and children, parents themselves. Approximate duration of the course: 30 hours.
Aims of the course are:

  1. to improve intercultural competences in educators working in services for families and children;
  2. to promote the exercise of active citizenship within parents;
  3. to foster the integration of immigrant families and children within the services and ultimately the local community.

Elaboration of a Manual for the SMILE training course containing the learning material that the educators can use as teaching support and as tool for facilitating the educational activities for parents.
The Manual will be published on the website and relevant stakeholders will be able to fill in an on-line form for the evaluation of its usefulness. Paper questionnaires will also be available for evaluation by a group of end users. The Manual will be available in EN, IT, RO, DE, SE and GR in paper copy and will be included in the final publication (DVD).

Realisation of two pilots of the SMILE training course per partner country (except for Germany), all partners will organise two pilot courses in their respective countries, identifying the appropriate trainers to deliver the various modules and ensuring thorough evaluation of the experiences. Each pilot course will be addressed to 10 educators and possibly some parents, both local and immigrant They will submit to CO&SO and INIT the results of the two pilots.
The results of the pilots will be published on the website (in EN) and will be disseminated at local and international level.

Realisation of Intercultural Activities

Realisation of activities/initiatives to promote intercultural integration      

  • Workshops
  • Theme days
  • Exhibitions

Realisation of at least one activity/initiative per partner country (except for Germany) to promote intercultural integration within the services for families and the respective communities. The activities will be organised by the educators and the parents themselves. Educators and parents will be given a large autonomy in the form and contents of the initiatives, that can therefore take the form of formal or informal meetings, organisation of festivals or games, or exhibitions or parties, “theme days” and so on. It will draft an evaluation report of the activities (in EN). The best testimonials of the activities will be collected in the final publication (DVD), that will be available in EN, IT, RO, DE, SE and GR (subtitles)
Aims of the activities are:

  1. to promote intercultural education in services for families, pre-primary education and the local community in general;

  2. to promote the exercise of active citizenship within parents;

  3. to foster the integration of immigrant families and children within the services and ultimately the local community.

Dissemination activities

Aim of the dissemination activities is:

  1. to maximise the impact of the project results by optimising their value, strengthening their impact, transferring them to different context, integrating them in a sustainable way and using them at local, regional, national and European level.

Dissemination activities will include:

  • opening of a project website, in all partner languages;
  • production of posters and brochures to publicise the project (in all partner languages);
  • organisation of one seminar in each country to present the SMILE course and manual and the handbook for the evaluation of the intercultural competences of educators;
  • organisation of Final conference in Florence for the presentation of the final products of the project (DVD/Book and course);
  • production of Final pubblication (DVD) in all languages, containing: Research report, Manual for the evaluation of the intercultural competences, Training course and manual, Intercultural activities;
  • a six-monthly electronic newsletter (in EN);
  • publicity of the project (in particular of the intercultural activities) in the local newspapers.

 

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