POP - Equal opportunities in the vocational and educational training careers for foreign adolescents
Context
Italy, Lombardy Region.
Starting date
12/01/2009
Ending date
30/09/2010
Abstract
POP is an experimental project specifically referred to the vocational training system of the Lombardy Region. The main focus is the presence of foreign students in the Right-Duty segment of the Vocational and Educational Training (from now on referred to as RD-VET) and the training proposal they are offered. Main points of attention and fields of action are: the welcoming of foreign students, the teaching/learning Italian as a Second Language, the valorization of the language of origin and of the linguistic skills within the VET process, the scholastic and professional success, the tutoring during the transition to the labor market.
Objectives
The general objectives of the project are:
- to offer proper training opportunities to foreign adolescents attending a three-years RD-VET promoted by the Lombardy Regional Authority;
- to support and increase their training success and their full integration process.
These two general objectives contribute to achieve the overall aim of the project, that is to say: conceiving and carrying out actions that, once experimented and tested in context, might bring to specific guidelines and operational prototypes useful for the promotion of future projects by Cariplo Foundation, as well as models available and exploitable on a more general scale, with reference to the RD-VET system as a whole.
How it works
To achieve its aims, the project develops 4 specific line of actions:
- teaching Italian L2 within the RD-VET system;
- teaching Italian L2 while valorizing the language of origin of foreign students with reference to the technical-professional subjects taught within their RD-VET curriculum;
- supporting the foreign students in their studying activities for their formative success;
- artistic-expressive workshops for the whole class-groups.
These actions are implemented through concrete measures: training and coaching activities carried out by tutors and teachers (both Italian L2 and curricular teachers). They are constantly involved in the students’ career, in a process starting with their admission to the VET system and ending with their transition to the labor market.
Results
An overall result
is the availability of operational strategies to be used by Cariplo Foundation, conceived as guidelines, prototypes and models, related to the intervention measures pragmatically carried out and implemented.
Other results
are related to the outcomes of the intervention measures proposed:
- VET teachers trained about the different CEFR levels in Italian as a Second Language (Italian L2), to test the foreign students’ skills at the beginning and at the end of their career;
- the certification practice in Italian L2 spread among RD-VET teachers, foreign students and their families, intended as a chance for the students themselves and an opportunity to enhance their linguistic skills’ levels;
- increased number of language certifications among migrant adolescents within the RD-VET;
- links built between the Italian L2 learning activities (languages area) and the technical-professional subjects within RD-VET; also valorising the students’ linguistic skills in their mother tongue (multilingual glossaries built by the students);
- formative success incremented thanks to summer activities carried out to support the VET process (peer to peer tutoring, support by adult tutors and curricular teachers);
- rooms provided for self-expression and narration by foreign adolescents, as an opportunity of socialization to make them discover their skills and potentials;
- meeting and dialogue opportunities proposed to RD-VET institutions and high schools with a high presence of foreign adolescents.
Products of the project
Elaboration of 6 prototypes/models tested after the intervention measures pragmatically carried out and implemented. These models might be transferred and reproduced – after a proper adaptation – within other training centers belonging to the RD-VET regional system. The prototypes are the following ones:
- integrated paths for welcoming foreign students and good practices promotion (AFOL - CFP Paullo);
- aesthetic canons in a multiethnic society. An intercultural didactic practice (AFOL - CFP Paullo);
- analysis of the life-cycle of a foreign student along the RD-VET: identification of the critical and positive elements to propose future possible line of intervention (Fondazione Clerici);
- support of the studying activity and promotion of scholastic success for foreign minors, by developing a specific didactic as for the teaching/learning skills in the field of general culture (Fondazione Clerici, Lecco);
- support the development of technical skills and valorization of multilingualism as a tool for training success of VET foreign students (Fondazione Enaip, Lecco);
- didactic experimentation in Italian L2 (Fondazione Enaip, Bergamo)
Find more about the results at the following address: http://www.ismu.org/index.php?page=540
Evaluation
Constant monitoring of the project implementation and gathering of the documentation produced as an outcome of the different lines of action.
Final evaluation of results and outputs in comparison to those expected, adopting quality criteria referred to the lines of action and to the intervention measures carried out.
Beneficiaries
Main beneficiaries of the project are:
- adolescents of foreign origin attending RD-VET three-year courses in 6 VET Centers;
- their families;
- teachers, trainers and tutors of 3 public and private training centers of VET, based in Milan but working on the regional territory as a whole (Fondazione Clerici Lombardia, Fondazione Enaip Lombardia, AFOL Provincia di Milano).
Source of funding
Cariplo Foundation.
Applicant Organization
Cariplo Foundation (financial baker);
Ismu Foundation (responsible for the project since the first elaboration to the final evaluation).
Partners
- Fondazione Clerici Lombardia,
- Fondazione Enaip Lombardia,
- AFOL Provincia di Milano (Agency for Training, Curriculum and Vocational Counselling)
Contacts
Mariagrazia Santagati: m.santagati@ismu.org
Alberto Vergani: albertovergani4@libero.it
Website
http://www.ismu.org/index.php?page=540
--Targets
AGE
<18
RESIDENCE STATUS
Newcomers
Permanent residents
2nd-3rd generation
EMPLOYMENT STATUS
In vocational training
Topics
ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION
Vocational training and career development
SOCIAL COHESION
Social inclusion
EDUCATION AND CULTURE
Language competencies
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUALITY
Equal opportunities
Italiano
English
