Education International Research
4. Conclusion and recommendations
Overall, the Italian legal framework provides a high level of protection for asylumseeking and unaccompanied minors and a noticeably inclusive approach concerning the integration of these children into the education system. That said, recent developments of the immigration legal framework concerning unaccompanied minors and its impact on the fulfilment of their rights, and in particular the right to education, should be closely monitored. The phenomenon of migrant children going underground also requires special attention and preventive work from all concerned institutions, including schools, considering the privileged relationship that education personnel have with these young people. Both aspects require stronger cross-sectoral collaboration and information-sharing mechanisms between national and local authorities. The analysis of the field research data highlights the many challenges facing the Italian education system in fulfilling the right to education of refugee and unaccompanied minors and offering them quality education opportunities. While many of the possible solutions call for more investment in terms of financial and human resources - both quantitatively and qualitatively - it is also obvious from the collected empirical evidence that the excellent practices developed by schools, teachers, and other education personnel on the ground as well as the expertise available among concerned stakeholders, could be better tapped to develop a more effective and coordinated approach to refugees’ education. In this regard, the increasing awareness and proactivity of the education authorities recently and the commitment to tackle these issues by education unions and their members have potential to allow refugee and unaccompanied minors to realise their full potential through education and to improve the quality of the Italian education system for all children. The following list of recommendations aims to contribute to this process, by identifying the priority interventions that are required to tackle the issues identified in this research.
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