MEDIS – Mediterranean Inclusive Schools
Promoting intercultural education as a key for social inclusion.
Grant Agreement Number: 2017-3615/001-001
Funded by: Erasmus+ Duration: 01/2018 – 01/2021
Challenge
The EU education systems are facing a serious challenge nowadays; a challenge that while not new, has intensified the last years due to the sharply increased migrant flows. EU countries – in particular the Mediterranean ones – have to deal with the presence in schools of large numbers of children with a migrant background, who are in a weak socio-economic position. Actually, 10% of the EU population were born in a different country from the one in which they reside (Eurostat 2015a; Eurostat 2015b).
In this framework, the combination of linguistic and cultural differences, low levels of academic achievement and weak socio-economic position are a substantial educational challenge that needs to be successfully addressed.
Thus, within classes and schools, it is necessary to accommodate the increased diversity of mother tongues and cultural perspectives. New, adapted teaching skills and inclusive methodologies are needed and new ways of building bridges with migrant families and communities must be developed.
Innovation
MEDIS aims at facilitating the integration of children coming from different cultural and language backgrounds by strengthening and consolidating social cohesion, intercultural education and local language in a multilingual framework of newly arrived migrants at primary and secondary schools.