The Education of the Children of Migrant Workers [microform]
There are some four million children of immigrants in nursery, primary, secondary, and vocational schools in the European Community. In particular the children of migrant workers experience significant educational difficulties. They often face an unfamiliar educational system and are handicapped by...
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| Format: | Microfilm Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[Place of publication not identified] :
Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse,
1987.
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| Summary: | There are some four million children of immigrants in nursery, primary, secondary, and vocational schools in the European Community. In particular the children of migrant workers experience significant educational difficulties. They often face an unfamiliar educational system and are handicapped by a lack of knowledge of the host country's language. As a result of inadequate schooling, they are disproportionally represented in the number of unemployed persons who are 16 to 25 years old. Proposals to improve the schooling of migrant children include: (1) increasing their knowledge of the language and culture of the host country; (2) expanding their knowledge of the language and culture of their country of origin; (3) intercultural education; (4) educational reintegration; (5) development of teaching materials; and (6) teacher training. An evaluation of the programs reveals that crash courses in languages followed by staged integration with native pupils is preferred to teaching only the language of origin or the host language. Teaching the mother tongue actually was a disadvantage to the migrant students in normal schooling because they missed regular classes to concentrate on their native language. Involvement of immigrant parents in their children's education was seen as a priority goal. The most successful pilot projects were found to be those that used intercultural courses that involved all the children in a class. The report concludes that school life should, ideally, offer equal opportunities and become the model for a pluralistic society open to evolutionary change. (SM) |
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| Item Description: | ERIC Document Number: ED287775. |
| Physical Description: | 10 pages. |
| Audience: | Teachers. Administrators. Researchers. Practitioners. |
| Reproduction Note: | Microfiche. |
| Action Note: | committed to retain |
| Preferred Citation of Described Materials Note: | Eurydice News--Dossier, n3 May 1987. |