The “All children in education (ACE)” initiative, led by UNICEF, facilitates the integration of refugee and migrant children into formal education in Greece through the provision of non-formal education services and other complementary activities.
Project Goal
The initiative aims to improve participants' Greek and English language learning, to prepare them for formal education, to provide them with psychosocial support from trained educators, homework support and accelerated learning, and to develop innovative learning materials and teacher capacity building.
How it works
Through the partners of the project, 40 Homework and Creative Activities Centres (HCACs) have been created throughout Greece: 26 in open sites (in Central Macedonia, Epirus, Central Greece, Thessaly, Western Greece, Peloponnese, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace and Attica), 8 in urban sites (Thessaloniki, Herakleio and Athens), and 6 in border areas (Evros, Chios, Kos, Leros, Lesvos and Samos).
In the framework of the project the following actions are carried out:
- HCACs offer support to refugee and migrant children and their families for their transition from non-formal education to a formal classroom environment in primary schools. Children attend classes of Greek, English, Mathematics and Science, and participate in skills-building sessions. After enrolling in school, children receive homework support.
- Creation of a collection of certified teaching and learning materials for formal and non-formal education. All resources are approved by the Institute of Educational Policy.
- The Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) is compatible with existing curricula and supports students in high schools in Biology, History, Social Science, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
- Use of Akelius Digital Language Learning Course about promoting language learning in both English and Greek.
- Teach for Integration is a 400-hour professional development programme aiming to equip educators with the necessary skills to support integration of refugee and migrant children into their classroom.
- The Ministry of Migration and Asylum created the ACEMON platform to monitor the learning progress of ACE beneficiaries. The data collected capture demographic information, the duration of education enrolment, the nature of educational activities received and the type of accommodation provided.
In addition to this, street outreach is carried out to find and connect with children who might want to join the programme.
Results
Between September 2021 and February 2024, ACE assisted a total of 24 057 refugee and migrant children: 14 518 boys and 9 539 girls, aged 4 - 17.
Participants included:
- 267 children with disabilities;
- 5 868 unaccompanied and separated children;
- 521 children referred to specialised services;
- 8 322 children who were provided with structured psychosocial and/or tailored support.
Participants came from:
- street outreach (3 211 children);
- open accommodation facilities (9 166);
- urban centres (6 556);
- border areas (5 124).
Evaluation
Ongoing evaluation of the programme is carried out via the AceMon Educational Platform application, created by the Directorate General of Information and Computer Technology of the Ministry of Migration And Asylum. The main purpose of this educational application is to record and monitor the progress of children that participate in the programme.
From October 2022 to February 2024 5 evaluation cycles were carried out, focusing on the assessment of skills in Greek and English. The results show that participation in ACE is positively associated with the overall improvement of children's language skills.
Who benefits
The main target group of the ACE programme is children aged 4 to 17. By extension, the children's families and the formal and non-formal teachers involved in their education are supported.
Funding and resources
The programme is a UNICEF initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, co-funded by the European Union, and implemented in cooperation with a number of partners, including ARSIS, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), ELIX, METAdrasi, Junior Achievement Greece, Solidarity Now, and the Universities of Athens, Thessaly, Thessaloniki, and Patras with the support of Akelius Foundation and Porticus Foundation.
About this good practice
- Project dates
- Geographic area
- Greece
- Organisation
- United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
- Website
- Position
- UNICEF Greece office
Details
- Original source
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