Since 2002, “the number of foreigners living in the EU has increased by 10.2 million and 5.5 million people, mainly former third-country nationals, have acquired citizenship of an EU Member State.” (Eurostat Bulletin 45/2010). The economic crisis has exacerbated the massive challenge to combat unemployment across the EU. Unemployment is an even bigger battle for many migrant and ethnic minority (EM) communities: the European Platform Against Social Exclusion reports that among non-EU nationals it can be up to 11% higher than for EU nationals.
All partners, other than Poland, are from countries with higher than average immigration rates. The UK has one of the highest in the EU with Italy and Greece not far behind. Traditionally, Poland has little inward migration (c.3%) but the number of economic migrants is increasing as Poland has one of the few growth economies in the EU. It also has a significant Roma (20-30,000) population many of whom experience very similar barriers to migrant groups and live on the margins of society, experience discrimination and are unable or unwilling to access education and employment. Each partner country sets targets to reduce unemployment and improve education, contributing to the Europe 2020 Strategy. In the UK, all Public Local Authorities must have a strategy to widen participation in education and employment for groups at risk of social exclusion, including migrant and minority ethnic (ME)
The FLAME project targets migrants, refugees, long term resident and ME groups. These groups are different with culturally distinct needs but also share many of the same significant barriers to education, employment and inclusion, for example: lack of native language skills, lack of transferable qualifications, lack of access to ICT, racial/religious prejudice, poverty and homelessness, trauma resulting from conflict. They represent a great potential resource for their adopted/host countries with ageing populations if they are encouraged and enabled to engage and contribute fully as equal and active citizens.
A recognised pathway to employment and inclusion is education. Disadvantages in education and training are linked to poor performance in the labour market and statistics show that migrants experience higher than average unemployment compared to that of the indigenous population. Yet many migrants/ME are unable or unwilling to participate in education because, for example, they lack confidence, language skills or there are cultural barriers e.g. women mixing outside the home.
The consortium has identified, a) ‘Family Learning’ combined with the use of b) peer ‘supporters’ as potentially a very effective route to engaging ME/migrant groups in learning, their wider communities and active citizenship.
The project aims are to:
- develop and pilot a toolkit of Family Learning methods and activities to engage adult family members from migrant and BAME (Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic) communities in learning with their children and provide ‘first steps’ to learning and employment which many BAME/migrants find difficult to achieve.
- Improved participation of BAME/migrant communities in learning & wider society.
- Improved employment opportunities and citizenship for these hard-to-reach and under-represented groups.
- The production of a ‘Toolkit of Family Learning (FL)’ methods and activities that is transferable to other EU Member States.
Reduced barriers to inclusion due to poverty, lack of language/cultural skills or access to networks.
The main objectives of this project are:
- Improved participation of BAME/migrant communities in learning & wider society.
- Improved employment opportunities and citizenship for these hard-to-reach and under-represented groups.
- The production of a ‘Toolkit of Family Learning (FL)’ methods and activities that is transferable to other EU Member States.
- Reduced barriers to inclusion due to poverty, lack of language/cultural skills or access to networks.
