Първата конференция за политики на SIRIUS беше организирана на 15 декември 2017 г. в Брюксел и беше голям успех. Над 80 изследователи, правещи политики, практици и представители на мигрантски организации се събраха, за да обменят опит, знание и добри практики. Еднодневната конференция, организирана в рамките на европейския проект „SIRIUS 2.0 Policy Network on Migrant Education„, беше добра платформа за дискусии, обмяна на идеи и диалог за възможните начини за сътрудничество и уникална възможност за рефлексия върху капацитета на европейските образователни системи да посрещнат нуждите на децата мигранти. Конференцията отрази още успехите, предизвикателствата, пропуските и потенциала в сферата на образованието на мигранти.
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Following European Commission’s recognition of the valuable contribution SIRIUS provides to this policy area, three key sessions took place to produce and share knowledge on the topic:
1) Representatives from education ministries, schools, private philanthropies and experts addressed panel’s focus on “How can we educate in a diverse society?” and stressed the need of a more inclusive education system for migrant and refugee children and the importance of inclusive classrooms.
2) The „Floor is yours“ session where participants had the opportunity to share their researches, projects, ideas on 10 specific topics; the session provided participants with the opportunity of networking, exchanging and reflecting on further cooperation and synergies in specific areas within the general migrant education framework. This highly participative methodology offered attendees an informal open space setting to share ideas, projects, actions and initiatives taking place across Europe.
3) Three workshops on “school leadership and governance”, “quality of teaching” and “social and emotional education in promoting migrant education” during which participants had the opportunity to learn from experts in these three topics and share also their expertise. The workshops enabled participants to benefit from experts’ inputs while sharing their expertise and reflections stemming from their national contexts. The outcomes of the session have been collected and will soon be shared within the network to strengthen SIRIUS’ and its members’ capacity to provide evidence-based policy recommendations and foster policy dialogue at both national and European level.
The whole day was very rich in discussions and knowledge-sharing. Participants have now diverse and excellent materials to enhance the work in the field of migrant and refugee education and reinforce collaboration among partners. As key outcome of the event, SIRIUS reinforces its position as recognised wide cross-country, multistakeholder and inclusive platform promoting positive change in the field of migrant education. The network further commits to reaching out more to policy makers and produce policy dialogues in all EU countries.