Italy
Italian universities’ actions targeting refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants: An initial mapping [Le azioni degli Atenei italiani rivolte ai rifugiati, ai richiedenti asilo e ai migranti: Una prima mappatura]
The paper presents the first results of a documentary research aimed at mapping specific actions or programmes addressed to holders of international protection, asylum seekers and migrants carried out by public and private universities, in Italy. The research reached a total of 98 universities, using the universities’ official websites as primary sources. From the data it emerges that universities are…
2023
Unlocking learning: The use of education technology to support disadvantaged children’s language learning and social inclusion in Italy
In Italy, more than 700,000 asylum seekers and migrants arrived in the country between 2014-2020. Newly arrived children including refugees and migrants need to quickly acquire Italian skills to succeed in school and society. To help address this urgent need, the Akelius digital learning application was introduced in Bologna and Rome for Italian and English language learning in the 2021/22…
2023
Including the Excluded: Sense-Making and Job Crafting as Drivers of Dialogical Change Management in Italian Universities for Refugees’ Inclusion
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are increasingly called to substantiate their impact on society in terms of inclusivity and social sustainability, as prioritized in the pursuit of the "Third Mission" (TM). Today, HEIs are confronted with the demand to ensure refugees' inclusivity. However, how administrative and teaching staff enact such change within the organization to match the TM goals is under-investigated.…
2023
Contact vs. information: What shapes attitudes towards immigration? Evidence from an experiment in schools
We analyze whether (correct) information provision on immigration is more effective than contact in shaping attitudes towards immigration. We collect data from a randomized experiment in 18 middle- and high-school classes in the city of Rome. Half of the classes meet a refugee from Mauritania and read a book about his story, whereas the rest of them attend a lecture…
2022
The form-school as a vehicle for the detotalization of refugee camps in Greece
Refugee camps have been multiplying at the gates of the European Union since the escalation of the Libyan and Syrian conflicts in 2016, particularly in Greece and Italy. These countries, which act as the main gateways, are implementing a “hotspots” approach included in the European agenda on migration established for the period 2015–2020. At the same time, restrictive migration policies…
2023
Educational Assimilation of First-Generation and Second-Generation Immigrants in Germany
Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for 1984–2018, we analyze the intergenerational education mobility of immigrants in Germany by identifying the determinants of differences in educational stocks for first- and second-generation immigrants in comparison to individuals without a migration background. Our results show that on average, first-generation immigrants have fewer years of schooling than native-born Germans and have a…
2022
Education of unaccompanied refugee minors in high-income countries: Risk and resilience factors
Record numbers of unaccompanied refugee minors continue to arrive in high-income countries seeking asylum and protection. Despite receiving educational support, unaccompanied refugee minors continue to be vulnerable to negative educational experiences and outcomes. The review investigates what resilience factors enable unaccompanied refugee minors in high-income countries to have positive educational experiences and outcomes. It aims to inform the literature on…
2022
Education and Employment of Refugees and Migrants in the Formal Elderly Healthcare Sector: Results from an Online Survey in Italy
The increase in older people with long-term care needs and the shortfall in the formal elderly healthcare workforce are questioning the healthcare system sustainability in Italy. Migrants have been employed for many years in the informal care sector as live-in carers often experience unfair working conditions. Appropriate training can help migrants and refugees enter the formal care sector, improve their…
2022
SIRIUS Watch 2021: Towards inclusive digital education for migrant children
SIRIUS Watch 2021 presents trends and developments on the effects of digitalisation in education on migrant children both pre- COVID-19 and during COVID-19. It will build on national and EU-level research, as well as the results of the SIRIUS Online Digital Workshop. The results include a clear framework of challenges and recommendations to support the development of an inclusive digital…
2021
Programs on Inclusion for immigrants designed and implemented by NGO’s in Italy. A successful educational path for immigrant students? Case Study of S. Home, a Sardinian NGO
As the refugee crises started in 2015, southern European countries had to deal with an increased number of immigrants arriving to their costs. Due to the still valid Treaty of Dublin, countries of arrival of immigration flows had to adapt their legal systems in order to manage the increased number of requests for protection. In Italy, actors such as NGOs…
2021
Teach us for what is coming: The transition into adulthood of foreign unaccompanied minors in Europe: case studies from France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands
This report looks at what it is like to be a young person alone and seeking safety in Europe when turning 18. It paints a difficult situation with many shortcomings but also some promising practices. The main finding is there is no legal framework or specific support schemes for unaccompanied minors (UAMs) entering adulthood. This leaves many young people to…
2021
Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ Integration in European Labour Markets: A Comparative Approach on Legal Barriers and Enablers
The Sirius first open access book entitled 'Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers' Integration in European Labour Markets. A Comparative Approach on Legal Barriers and Enablers' discusses how, and to what extent, the legal and institutional regimes and the socio-cultural environments of a range of European countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), in the…
2021
The integration of asylum seekers and refugees in the field of education and the labour market: Comparative thematic report
This report is based on a meta-analysis of nine national reports on integration from countries along the so-called Eastern Mediterranean Route. It includes two countries beyond the EU, Turkey and Iraq, which have played an important role as source and transit countries of refugees, the transit countries of Greece, Italy and Poland, and the destination countries of Austria, Germany, Sweden,…
2021
Happy 18th? Unaccompanied minors and the transition to adulthood. An Italian case study
This qualitative study considers the interaction between the Italian migration regime and young male African migrants (age 14-21) who have made the precarious, illegalised journey to Italy, where they are bureaucratically labelled as ‘unaccompanied minors’. The thesis focuses in on what happens when these children become legally adult; examining how the idealised concept of ‘childhood’ has a bordering effect, dividing…
2021
Beyond the vulnerability paradigm: fostering inter-professional and multi-agency cooperation in refugee education in Italy
Children and families from a refugee background seem to escape the technical view usually adopted by educational and health practitioners, which is based on a mixture of diagnostic tests and special needs policies. This approach struggles to cope with the multiple needs–in terms of health, culture, language, and learning–involved in taking care of refugee children. Even though services multiply their…
2021
Schooling contexts of refugees at primary schools in two hotspots: comparison of italy and turkey [İlkokullardaki̇ mülteci̇leri̇n eğİti̇msel bağlamlari: İtalya ve türki̇ye karşilaştirmasi]
This study aimed to investigate refugee pupils’ schooling contexts, their social relationships with teachers and native peers in math, social studies, and native language courses at primary schools. The research is a combination of two parts that originated from the observations in Italy to highlight the refugees’ schooling contexts in classrooms, then followed by the part that took place in…
2021
Impact of the covid-19 pandemic on habilitating residential communities for unaccompanied minors during the first lockdown in italy: The educators’ relational perspective
(1) Background: Italian residential communities for unaccompanied minors suffered a long period of closure during the SARS-COV2 lockdown. Professional educators who work inside these institutions with the aim to habilitate children toward life-span achievements faced a great challenge and responsibility during this period. In this context, the psychological well-being and development of unaccompanied children were at high risk. The aim…
2021
Improving labour market access for refugees in Calabria: Key findings and recommendations
Access to employment is a key factor for migrant integration not only as a means of socio-economic incorporation, but also because it can help a person build relationships, support wellbeing and increase the sense of belonging to the local community. In the Italian context, the employment of migrants is constantly on the rise although only a small proportion are in…
2020
Integration into the Labour Market and Skills Training of Migrants in Italy
The right to work is one of the fundamental pillars of the Italian Constitution (Articles 1 and 4); it is granted to everyone as an instrument for the social, economic and material development of the Nation. However, the Italian Government is free to define certain areas of economic initiative (Article 41) that are considered strategic and of high interest. Italian…
2020
An overview of refugee education in Europe
The overview of refugee children education in Europe we provide in this book is part of the Erasmus + project “ITIRE: Improving teaching to improve refugee children education”. Following the unprecedented flow of forced migrants to Europe in 2015, several countries have adopted measures to facilitate the enrolment of refugee children in the educational system. These actions have produced a…
2020
Caregivers
Netherlands
Lithuania
English
Ireland
Hungary
France
Greece
Bulgaria
Access & participation
Spain
Latvia
Türkiye
Denmark
Cyprus
Malta
Iceland
Albania
Norway
Belgium
Luxembourg
Intervention
Romania
Monaco
Switzerland
Bosnia
Czechia
Human rights
Croatia
Germany
Estonia
Sweden
Finland
Italy
Macedonia
Austria
Poland
Slovenia
Portugal
United Kingdom
Serbia
Slovakia
Integration Policies, Practices & Experiences: Italy Country Report
The Italian case is characterised by a considerable delay in the development of a model of integration. Indeed, with a long tradition as a country of emigration, Italy has been culturally less well equipped to face the challenges of a multicultural society. Moreover, the country’s geographical position – which impedes an efficient control of the borders – has incentivised policies…
2020
Integration Policies,Trends, Problems and Challenges: An Integrated Report of 9 Country Cases
This report provides a snapshot for some of the primary findings, trends and challenges with regard to immigrant integration that have been studied in nine country cases, based on research conducted within the framework of the Horizon2020 RESPOND project. These countries are Sweden, Germany, Italy, Greece, Austria, Poland, the UK, Turkey and Iraq. All nine country reports study integration in…
2020
Teaching non-italian students: Italian adaptation of the questionnaire on teachers’ perspectives * [Insegnare agli studenti non italiani: Adattamento in italiano del questionario sulle percezioni degli insegnanti]
The survey of teachers’ perspectives on the teaching of refugees and immigrant pupils by Kurbegovic (2016) is used to evaluate five dimensions of teachers’ self-perception: Self-efficacy, Implementation Practices, Cultural Competence, Competence/Preparation and Student Needs. The present study is aimed at analysing the self-awareness of primary school teachers of the teaching of refugee and immigrant students in Italy. The survey of…
2020
Encouraging intercultural attitudes and practices in contemporary ECEC services. Insights from A research conducted in Italy, Spain, and Hungary
This paper presents the results of a European survey that was part of a European funded project, entitled ‘Multicultural Early Childhood Education’, carried out between 2017 and 2018, in three countries: Italy, Spain, and Hungary. The goal was to explore the intercultural training needs of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) professionals, to support them to meet the needs of…
2020
The linguistic integration of refugees in Italy
The creation of laws regarding the linguistic integration of migrants has contributed to the change in Italian language teaching, which has had to adapt its materials and methodology to migrants. However, the specific case of refugees has not been specifically assessed, with the exception of experimentation with the Council of Europe toolkit for refugees. This paper aimed to study the…
2019
Education: Hope for newcomers in Europe
The aim of this volume is to bring together experiences from four European countries, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, on how they have organised the reception of newly-arrived children in their schools, which challenges they face, what are the opportunities, where the support comes from and it has failed to emerge. The four contributions also illuminate the role of education…
2018
Responding to the ECEC needs of children of refugees and asylum seekers in Europe and North America
In Europe and North America, the arrival of heightened numbers of refugees and asylum seekers in recent years has challenged the ability of governments and service providers to both meet initial reception needs and provide effective long-term integration services. Young children make up a significant share of these newcomers. As a result, there is a pressing need for early childhood…
2018
Inclusive Education for Disabled Refugee Children: A (Re)Conceptualization through Krip-Hop
Inspired by Hip-Hop pedagogy and the Krip-Hop movement, this paper aims to address the limits of inclusive education for disabled migrant students, by drawing on the community event “I am Hip-Hop” that took place in June 2019 in Italy. Through this community intervention, migrant and disabled migrant youth were provided a creative platform to reflect critically about their identity and…
2020
Language learning and educational inclusion in Calabria: Key findings and recommendations
In Italy, the acquisition of the Italian language is considered a fundamental means to guarantee access to local services and the beginning of an integration process. The teaching of the Italian language is entrusted with two providers: on the national government side, it is provided by the Centres for Adult Education (CPIA); from the third and private sector, these courses…
2019
Language Education for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Italy: Provision and Governance
In Italy, the acquisition of the Italian language is considered a fundamental step to guarantee access to the territory for a period of more than one year and the beginning of the integration process. The teaching of the Italian language is entrusted to two channels: from the government side, it is provided by the Provincial Centres for Adult Education (CPIA);…
2019
Building autonomous pathway for unaccompanied foreign minors and young adults – National Roundtable of Italy 2019
The context is provided on the basis of the conclusions of the Access to Educational Report for refugee and migrant children in Europe, carried out jointly by Unhcr, Unicef and Iom. A greater effort is needed to ensure that all minors who are migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have access to quality education and guarantees for the continuation of their…
2019
E-learning resources for migrants and refugees: Experience from field trials in Italy
The role of MOOCs and OERs as effective resources for social inclusion of disadvantaged groups has been greatly emphasized in recent years due to the increased numbers of refugees and migrants, especially in European societies. A recent study carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission on free digital learning (FDL) opportunities for migrants and refugees…
2019
Access to education for refugee and migrant children in Europe
Three UN agencies are calling on European States to increase resources and practical support for their school systems to ensure all refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children can access and stay in quality education. In a briefing paper published today, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, detail the obstacles…
2019
Understanding and Improving the social integration of immigrant background students in Oslo and Florence
Europe has experienced a significant shift in demographics over the past several decades. This internationalization is in part due to intra-European mobility, falling birth rates among native-born citizens, and the influx of refugees fleeing from civil wars in developing countries such as Syria and Sudan. This trend has sparked research into the integration of immigrant-background students. Data from the Organisation…
2019
Education, acculturation, and adaptation: Unaccompanied migrant and refugee youths in Italy
Migration worldwide is characterized by the presence of unaccompanied minors, separated from their parents or any primary caregivers. The present study aimed to fill literature gaps on the acculturation and adaptation of unaccompanied migrant and refugee adolescents. The Ward and Geeraert model (2016), which explores how acculturation unfolds within different ecological contexts, namely societal, institutional and familial, was employed to…
2019
Integration & assimilation
Caregivers
Teachers & educational staff
English
Policy & law
Access & participation
Resilience & adaptation
Unaccompanied & separated children
Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Racism & discrimination
Secondary education
Italy
Acculturation
Adult education & training
Interview
Access to higher education among refugees and migrants in emergency situations in Italy: An opportunity for the so-called “lost generation”
This research gathers and analyses the good practices of refugee reception and integration in the Italian higher education system. The methodological approach includes both qualitative and quantitative methods based on interviews and questionnaires to students, professors, and government scholarship secretariats. Several Italian institutions collaborated in this research. The study found that the number of scholarships offered is higher than the…
2019
Unlocking the Potential of Migrants: Cross-country Analysis
Among the millions of asylum seekers who recently arrived in OECD countries, the majority are young people who may be able to take advantage of vocational education and training (VET) opportunities to help them enter skilled employment. This report provides advice to governments and other stakeholders who are seeking to use VET to promote integration, in particular for young humanitarian…
2019
A mobile learning platform to guarantee education continuity for unaccompanied foreign minors and refugees
Between 2014 and 2017, around 623,000 people arrived by sea in Italy. This has led to a huge problem for guarantee quality instruction for migrants, especially young people; research carried out by UNICEF has shown that young migrants represent the desire to be able to resume regular education as soon as possible. The answer to these new education challenges finds…
2019
Multi‐country Partnership to Enhance the Education of Refugee and Asylum‐seeking Youth in Europe – PERAE
The ‘Multi‐country Partnership to Enhance the Education of Refugee and Asylum‐seeking Youth in Europe ‐ PERAE’ was initiated by the SIRIUS Network – Policy Network on Migrant Education in 2016 with the support of the Mercator Foundation. The initiative builds up on the SIRIUS ‘Agenda on Migrant Education’ (SIRIUS, 2014) and the Statement on Urgent Response for the Education of…
2018
#Back to School – A Comparative Overview of the Current Situation of Asylum Seeker and Refugee Children having Reached Compulsory School Age in Seven EU Member States
Education could pave the way towards a more stable and brighter future for children seeking and benefiting from international protection, after often several years of flight and insecurity. Many of them see education as an opportunity to re-build their lives in a new environment and they typically arrive highly motivated to continue school after long periods of absence. Still, law,…
2018
The education of refugee children: Human rights enactment and educational policy discourses in Italy and the UK
Europe is currently experiencing what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)1 defines as the largest refugee crisis since the end of World War II. An estimated 700,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe in the last year along dangerous land and sea routes, from Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (UNHCR,…
2018
Violence Experience among Immigrants and Refugees: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italy
The objectives of this cross-sectional investigation among a random sample of immigrants and refugees in Italy were to gain an insight into the extent and type of the episodes of violence and to assess their association with different characteristics. Data was collected from September 2016 to July 2017 using a face-to-face structured interview. A total of 503 subjects participated. Overall,…
2018
“cultura e accoglienza”: The inclusion of asylum seeker students in university language courses. Initial experience and data
In 2016 the University of Padova and its Language Centre (Centro Linguistico di Ateneo - CLA) became involved in the two-year "Cultura e accoglienza" Project (see Dalziel and Piazzoli in this volume), the aim of which was to encourage around 30 refugees and asylum seekers to pursue university studies by means of a personalized training programme with support from language…
2018
‘Colour-evasiveness’ and racism without race: the disablement of asylum-seeking children at the edge of fortress Europe
This article explores discriminatory discourses articulated by Italian professionals operating in educational, health and social services for refugees in Rome, in relation to the educational and social inclusion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children. It locates such narratives within the historical ‘concealment and invisibilisation of race and racism’ that have characterised Italy particularly since the end of the Second World…
2018
The journey of hope: Education for refugee and unaccompanied children in Italy
The Italian legal framework provides a high level of protection for asylum-seeking and unaccompanied minors and a noticeably inclusive approach concerning the integration of these children into the education system. That said, recent developments of the immigration legal framework concerning unaccompanied minors and its impact on the fulfilment of their rights, and in particular the right to education, should be…
2017
Continuity of learning for newly arrived refugee children in Europe
Notwithstanding the efforts made by EU Member States in recent years, third-country nationals continue to be placed at a disadvantage regarding employment, education and social inclusion compared to EU citizens (OECD/European Union, 2015). For refugees, and people with a migration background at large, education is key for socio-economic success and for overcoming disadvantages in European societies. Education fosters social inclusion,…
2017
Unaccompanied foreign minors in the Italian context: From legal order to networking in educational services
As the result of armed conflict, poverty or natural disasters, many children move away from their families and culture of origin. In 2014, in Italy, the number of unaccompanied foreign minors was approximately 11,000. They represent the most vulnerable of the migration phenomenon and for this reason, in December 2013, the Directorate General of Immigration and Integration Policy of the…
2016