The 2019 GEM Report by UNESCO highlights how immigrants and refugees remain at high risk of segregation into different schools and slower school tracks in European countries. The report warns of the disparity in migrant educational opportunity across Europe, due to restrictive immigration policies, and segregation due to migrant students more likely to attend schools in disadvantaged areas.
Key Greece Facts:
·In 2015–2016, over 1 million people entered and transited through Greece.
·Following an agreement between the European Union and Turkey in March 2016 and the closure of borders to other European countries, an estimated 20,000 children remained in the country. Three-quarters live on the mainland, either in camps, urban accommodations or unaccompanied children shelters; the remaining quarter lives on five islands, often exceeding the maximum stay in overcrowded camps.
·In August 2016, a government-sponsored committee proposed a refugee education action plan and the establishment of an implementation unit at the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs.
·There have been two main types of formal education provision since 2016/17 on the mainland. First, some children attend regular schools – most of them located in zones of education priority – with existing reception classes serving immigrant children. Second, new reception classes for refugee children living in open accommodation sites were established in nearby schools. Children attend an afternoon shift and follow a special programme of Greek, English, information technology, mathematics, music and physical education.
·As of the end of the 2017/18 school year, an estimated 62% of children aged 5 to 17 living in urban accommodations and unaccompanied children shelters were registered in formal education, ranging from 76% of 5- to 6-year-olds to 42% of 16- to 17-year-olds, although no dropout rate estimates are available
·Mastering The Local Language Is Necessary For Refugees To Feel Included - In Greece, language difficulty was the main reason refugee children stopped attending formal education
·Public Attitudes Can Shape Migrants’ Self-Perception And Well-Being - A study in Greece following more than 500 mostly male 13-year-old students with migrant backgrounds over two years found that native students’ attitudes affected immigrant students’ well-being. Immigrant students were more likely to perceive little discrimination if they felt liked by natives, even if they perceived discrimination against them as a group
·Inclusion Should Be At The Centre Of Education Policies And Systems - Intercultural schools have been part of domestic law in Greece since 1985, but have been parallel to the national system and resisted by parents and education administrators
·The Council of Europe partnered with Greece, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom for a European Qualifications Passport for Refugees, which provides an assessment of post-secondary qualifications based on available documentation and a structured interview. In 2017, as part of a pilot exercise in Greece, 92 refugees were interviewed and 73 were issued with a qualifications passport.
