Preventing Early School Leaving Through Inclusive Strategies (PEARLS)

Preventing Early School Leaving Through Inclusive Strategies (PEARLS) is a three year lasting European strategic partnership in the field of school (2014-2017), co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission. Nine educational institutions from five countries collaborate in order to tackle the challenge of early school leaving in Europe.

The main outcome is the conduction of an international teacher training course. It took place in Budapest, in April 2017, read more. The accompanying materials, the PEARLS toolkit, entails 3 modules, e.g. handling diversity in class and inclusion of Roma students.

April 2018: Teacher Training Course in Berlin. Please find more info here.

The PEARLS partners investigated in their respective regions the backgrounds and figures on early school leaving. They conducted empirical research as well as literature research in order to implement tailor made support measures for pupils at risk of early school leaving.

Here the overall report can be found.

Description of setting up a MENTOR PROGRAM at your school

Description of the competence mapping method: "TREE OF LIFE"

The further training for teachers took place from 24th to 30th April 2017 in Budapest. Schools sent teachers to this training event if they had successfully applied for funding under Key Action 1 of the Erasmus+ programme. Read more about the event here.

Inspiring Exchange during International Teacher Training in Budapest

“Not all Roma speak the Romani language.”

“Roma history is not being taught in a school although 70% of the pupils are Roma.”

These are only two of many “aha-effects” which occurred during the intense work in several workshops. Besides PEARLS trainers from Romania, Hungary, Turkey and Germany, Benjamin Ignac from Croatia was present. He works at the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and as a child he attended the primary school in Orehovica in Croatia. Three teachers of this school took part in the training. They are very experienced with the inclusion of Roma pupils. For example they offer courses for all parents (Roma and non-Roma) – dealing with the acquisition of reading and writing skills, as well as questions with regard to upbringing their children. An EU funded project was the starting point for these workshops. Although the project is terminated, some teachers continue with courses for parents, now mainly done voluntary, means unpaid. Ionut Stan, the founder of the Romanian NGO “Gipsy Eye” asked the participants: “Have you ever bought books and pencils for your pupils?” The group: “YES!” Ionut Stan replied provokingly: “Don’t do that.” 

Of course he sees the dilemma: pupils do need school materials. And he appreciates that the teachers often step in. At the same time he emphasized that clear words are needed (letters, visits, petitions, press articles etc.) with regard to more financial support from municipalities and educational authorities.

For Ionut Stan it was new that most Roma families in Medjimurje (Croatia, the region where the Orehovica school is located) speak the Boyash language (not Romani). He explained that not all Roma in Europe speak Romani or another related language, because the Roma traditions were partly extinguished by the majority society.

Simona Borko, social pedagogue at the Dr. Ivan Novak primary school in Macinec (Croatia) vividly explained the factors which lead to successful cooperation with Roma parents. She, together with some of her colleagues, had the impression that there is no other way than to became active themselves in order to improve the situation. Because there was a lack of  support from authorities. Once this decision was made they contacted the NGO „Open Academy – Step by Step“. Simona and some of her colleagues enrolled in their trainings on anti-discrimination and power structures within a society. Aftwards they invited their colleagues, their headmaster and together they went to the Roma settlement „Parag“. All travelled in the big white school bus. „This changed a lot“, Simona said. The parents of our pupils felt valued, they could see that we as teachers have a crucial interest in their children. Since then she or one of her colleagues goes out to the Roma settlement each week to clarify issues with parents. Now more Roma parents attend meetings at school, when matters related to their children or common programs need to be discussed.

„What are the factors which lead to a better inclusion of Roma pupils?“ Benjamin Ignac said that most of the Roma students internalized shame of being Roma; a lot of them also incorporated fear due to discrimination over the centuries and due to present incidents. Therefore it would be good when teachers find ways to encourage Roma pupils to be proud of their Roma identity and to socialize more with non-Roma students. Furthermore he stressed that the application of Human Rights and Children's Rights in schools is very important. Since many children do not know their rights and institutions which would support them. Later in the course, Susan Navissi, teacher at the Richard primary school in Berlin Neukölln, showed hands-on materials and methods on Human Rights. The participants said that they appreciated this very much, because they can directly use it in their classes.

All in all the feedback from the participants to the whole course was outstandingly positive. The extremely considerate atmosphere within the group was mentioned. Some participants rather spoke in their native language than in English. A colleague translated and the others paid very much attention, no impatience was in the air. Thus some teachers said that they now understand their pupils much better who have only little knowledge of the national language. As highlights the 15 participants mentioned the exchange of experiences and best practices as well as the visit of Losonci primary school in the 8th district of Budapest. Piroska Czifrik works there as a teacher for Hungarian. During the module 'Schools as Learning Environments' she presented the cooperative method: Complex Instruction Programme, which the course participants considered as very useful.

The evenings were filled with an intercultural party, a spontanious movie session at the seminar venue DokuArt (which is a cinema) and with various activities in Budapest, like a guided tour through the 8th district.

The contents of the workshop, its schedule etc. can be found here. 

Our flyers give a quick overview:

german

english

romanian

croatian

During the projects' life time five partner meetings will take place. This face to face contact is the basis for a reliable cooperation between the partners.

The first meeting took place in Berlin, Germany, 5. and 6. June 2015

The second PEARLS partner meeting was held in Pascani, Romania, in November 2015 (19+20th). In October 2016 (17.-19th) we will have the third meeting in Edirne, Turkey.

Coordinator of the project is the Institute for Civic Education of the Leibniz University Hanover in Germany. The university was funded in 1831, nowadays it has 21,000 students and 4,700 staff members. Didactics of Democracy describes the scientific examination of a “learning democracy”. Students who will become teachers for civic education are enrolled here. Active citizenship it the focal point of teaching and researching. The Institute has a strong record of developing educational tools, curricula and teaching material.

Sandra Moßner and Bernhard Stolz

The purpose of our association is the promotion of humanism and humanity on a secularized basis. In Berlin-Brandenburg the HVD section has 1200 employees.

Scope of our work:
- Counselling with regard to patient’s provision
- Responsible for 25 kindergartens in Berlin
- Teaching the subject “Lebenskunde” (similar to ethics) in primary schools in Berlin

The teacher training department of the Humanistic Association of Germany (HVD), section Berlin, is engaged in various European networks and projects on the topic of migration. With the subject “Lebenskunde” we reach 50,000 pupils in Berlin and Brandenburg, it deals with ethical and moral learning from a non-religious perspective. The human rights convention from the United Nations is one of our guidelines. Anti-discrimination is an important topic in our teaching as well in our national and international teacher trainings. The latter we provide regularly as Erasmus KA1 courses in Afacan/Turkey.

humanistisch.de/lebenskunde-bb

Erzsébet Csáky and Zsuzsanna Komjáthy

Artemisszió is a private NGO established in 1998, with 17 full time employees. It aims to encourage continuous dialogue between culturally and socially diverse groups. We have three main sectors of work: integration of marginalized groups, adult training and school programs.

Our activities have an international scope: we have a wide network of social partners in Budapest, we are active in the impoverished regions of Hungary, collaborate with other NGOs from diverse European and non-European countries (e.g. Brazil, Colombia, Sierra Leone). The Foundation is member of the Hungarian Hub of the European Migration Network, the Anna Lindh Foundation and the Global Education Working Groups of Hand (the national NGDO platform).

www.artemisszio.hu

Piroska Czifrik and Tímea Kiss

The school is located in the 8th district of Budapest. It has 550 pupils who predominantly derive from a disadvantaged socio-economic background, the share of Roma children is 60%.
Losonci has 66 teachers, who permanently look for new possibilities in order to support their pupils. For example they establish ties to civic institutions, like foundations, sport associations, museums, the Hungarian chess association etc..
The work atmosphere among the teachers and between the teachers and the headmaster, Csilla Stenzinger, is very good - and a good condition for dealing with the problems of the students. Moreover team teaching is applied in classes 1 to 4, this approach will be incorporated in the PEARLS teacher further training.

losialtisk.hu

Necmi Gündüz and Semih Marangoz

Our association was founded in Tekirdağ in 2010, which is situated at the north coast of the Marmara Sea.The city (150,000 inhabitants) has two main neighborhoods where Roma people live. These neighbourhoods have been transformed into places where people suffering from poverty. The low attendance rate to schools and early school leaving are crucial problems which contribute to the poverty trap. Our association aims at developing a network between Roma people, the public institutions, and the non-Roma people. Here one of our objectives is the improvement of the educational situation among the young Roma people.

Özlem Oktay

Our school has 150 students, aged 6 to 10, all are from Roma communities.
We also have 15 pupils with disabilities, they are supported by members of a social work institute, this support is not comparable to western European standards. The Mustafa Necati school is located only two kilometres from the Greek border, it belongs to the Marmara region of Turkey.
Only 5% of the parents have a regular job, the others have occasional jobs or depend on small welfare from the state. These conditions have a negative impact on the performance of the pupils. In order to improve the situation we provide, on a small scale, extracurricular activities, like singing, dancing and theatre. As a partner in the PEARLS project we will extend these offers.

Moreover we work together with the Edirne science lycee which has 382 pupils (age between 14-18 years) and 34 teachers. During the project period of PEARLS we want to colllaborate with other institutions as well, thus a network for supporting our pupuils will be established.

Ionut Stan

Gipsy Eye is a grass roots organization, the members are from several societal groups like university, high school but also less educated young Roma. Our motto is “see beyond prejudice”. Gipsy Eye was founded as an informal group in 2007 by the initiative of six Romani students, in August 2008 it became an official NGO. It is based in Iasi, in the north-east of Romania, which belongs to the less developed regions of the country. However Iasi plays an important role in the Romanian cultural and economic life (i.e.: Iasi is the third biggest university centre after Bucharest and Cluj). Five percent of the Romanian Roma live here.

We aim to combat prejudices against Roma by the following:
- Supporting Roma children for having equal access to education
- Preventing drop outs of Roma pupils by mediation and training of teachers
- Encouraging Roma girls to become role models and to be active in projects

- Enhancing Roma identity in Romani youth by giving knowledge of Romani culture and history

gipsyeye.com

Angela Casariu

The Cozmesti School is located in the east of Romania in the Moldavian region, it has 316 pupils, aged between three and fifteen years. They come from different social environments, in most cases they are considered as ‘disadvantaged’. The school is divided into nursery school, primary school and gymnasium, it is well equipped (projectors, laptops, new furniture, modern teaching material). A kindergarten belongs to the school as well, it has a very good reputation throughout the country.
With the financial support of the PEARLS project, the school board aims to involve more disadvantaged children in projects and partnerships in order to prevent the early dropout, especially among the Roma community. Two teachers also derive from Roma communities, which is exceptional for Romanian schools. This is an advantage in order to reach Roma children and their parents.

Nevenka Lončarić-Jelačić

The Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA) is a public institution responsible for professional and advisory support in the area of general education in Croatia. The professional staff of ETTA are 110 senior advisers working in the central office in Zagreb. Besides professional support for educational staff the scope of our work is:

The education of Croatian citizens abroad and the education of foreign nationals in Croatia,
participation in the development and implementation of the national curriculum,
monitoring the development and implementation of Croatian National Educational Standard as a part of the national curriculum etc.
Since 1999 we are responsible for the implementation of the national curricula for human rights education and for implementation of the curricula on active citizenship education. The National Plan of Action for Roma Inclusion (2005-2015) as well as other important national documents are implemented through this curriculum.