Education: Hope for newcomers in Europe
Indeed, many interviewed teachers and education support personnel in CPIAs also underlined that adult education is undergoing an important transformation process. Certain provisions of the recent reform that transformed CTPs into CPIAs58 in 2015-2016 still need to be worked out (e.g. the coordination with evening upper-secondary schools, practical arrangements with hosting schools in order to offer classes in the morning, etc.) and once implemented, could impact positively on the education of unaccompanied minors. 2.3.4. Opening doors to the Italian society “Education isn’t only about obtaining academic results but, above all, it is about getting a chance to integrate into the host society. It means that if we are not able to integrate these young people into an ‘ordinary’ environment, we are failing”. —Social worker, Accommodation centre for unaccompanied minors (Catania) This quote highlights another major area of concern: the “ghettoisation” of unaccompanied minors in CPIAs, due to the increasingly low attendance of Italian students59. “The main limitation of the CPIA is the fact that unaccompanied minors always stay together, without having any contact with their Italian peers. From this point of view, ordinary schools are more formative, they open doors to the host society”. —Social worker, Accommodation centre for unaccompanied minors (Milan) Several interviewees mentioned that this issue should be carefully considered and monitored by educational authorities at local and national levels60, in order to identify good practices in terms of creating bridges between “regular” schools and CPIAs: “I’m not saying that unaccompanied minors should be enrolled in uppersecondary schools [when they are not qualified for it], but most of them could easily access ordinary secondary schools in the frame of specific projects and activities, at least for the sake of peer contact”. —Local Educational Authority (USR) representative (Milan) 58
Presidential Decree 263/12 (29 October 2012)
59
Attendance of Italian students may differ from place to place, depending on the levels of unemployment and early school dropout.
60
Interviewees stressed that this aspect should be considered in light of the Italian approach to migrant students’ education in which inclusion is fundamental. See for example Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (2007), La via italiana per la scuola interculturale e l’integrazione degli alunni stranieri”. Available here: http://hubmiur.pubblica.istruzione.it/alfresco/d/d/ workspace/SpacesStore/cecf0709-e9dc-4387-a922-eb5e63c5bab5/documento_di_indirizzo.pdf (Accessed on 28 April 2017)
B 21