Integrating Refugee and Asylum-seeking Children - Center for the ...

comparative report: educational integration of refugee and asylum-seeking 41
the education system of the receiving country. Thus,
a more detailed understanding of the educational
integration of RASC has been developed along three
basic principles as part of a two-way process:
1. RASC (including those with subsidiary forms of
protection) should have full access to education
under the same conditions as nationals and be
given the opportunity to demonstrate similar
educational achievements;
2. Education as a vehicle for cultural integration
should further effective acculturation, i.e.
familiarisation of RASC with the main components
of the host society’s culture;
3. Unequal treatment of RASC in the education
system and different forms of discrimination
(xenophobia, racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia,
etc.) should be combated.
A child rights approach and its underlying principles
(empowerment and accountability, non-discrimination
and equality, participation, indivisibility of rights,
respect for the voice of the child) have been
incorporated in the relevant criteria for identification
of good practices of educational integration of
RASC. Starting from the concept of integration we
have adopted and the rights-based approach, several
specific areas of analysis have been identified:
1. Access and enrolment;
2. Quality of education;
3. Enhanced protection;
4. Empowerment and participation.
The research conducted by the project team
has comprised all twenty-six EU Member States
participating in the European Refugee Fund (ERF),
as well as Denmark, Norway, and four Western
Balkan states at various stages on their way to
EU Membership (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina). The project partners
have investigated best practices in the educational
integration of refugee children in their country as
well as in several other European countries that are
geographically and/or linguistically close to their
own. Where the target group is relatively small (for
instance in Estonia), best practices in the design and
implementation of preparedness programmes have
been reviewed. Where best practices are lacking
(Bulgaria being a notable example), a situation
analysis also highlighting areas needing improvement
has been prepared.
The main target group and direct beneficiaries of
the INTEGRACE project are children who have been
granted refugee status or are seeking asylum in EU
Member States participating in the ERF, as well as
Denmark, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, children with
subsidiary protection status, temporary protection
status and humanitarian residence permits have also
been included as target groups. The definition of
‘children’ is based on the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC), i.e. all persons
below the age of eighteen. Unaccompanied minor
migrants are also discussed, including those who
have not applied for asylum.
In order to collect information regarding successful
initiatives and policies for the educational integration
of RASC, the project team used the following
sources of information:
• academic research and publications;
• reports by government institutions of EU Member
States;
• reports by EU institutions and agencies;
• reports and studies by other international organisations;
• reports and studies by non-governmental
organisations in EU Member States;
• interviews with stakeholders, conducted by
telephone or in person during fact-finding visits
(primary data);
• on-site visits.
The following methods have been used to collect
data.
• desktop research
This involved gathering information on background
studies, stakeholder information, and relevant resources
for the development of data collection tools. Reports
by governmental institutions in the EU Member States,
legislation (international, EU and national), as well as
project reports and academic research in this area
have been used as a source of information about
policy initiatives undertaken by the countries in the
field of educational integration of RASC.
• official correspondence
The main purpose here was to collect information
from relevant institutions and experts on existing