Purpose: The project aims to promote a transformation on the integration of migrant children and young people in the educational context, particularly in schools, through the development of citizenship skills.
More specifically the project aims to:
1. Increase migrant students' ability to understand, produce and interact orally and in writing in Portuguese;
2. Increase the motivation and academic success of migrant students, stimulating their personal and social development;
3. Raise awareness (among students, volunteers and the community) of intercultural issues and global citizenship, encouraging the exercise of active citizenship.
At the same time, the project aims to:
- Create appropriate responses for the integration of migrant students (to increase personal, social and academic skills);
- to sensitise educational settings to interculturalism and to promote greater openness to the communities;
- to train teachers and non-teaching staff;
- to create specific teaching resources for Portuguese Language migrant students;
- to integrate more human resources in schools;
- to have individualised and small group support in cultural diverse contexts;
- to generate more reflection on migration in education in Portugal.
Stimulus/Rationale: The city promotes a local development programme, called BIP ZIP Programme to support CSOs with funds and resources for their work in vulnerable areas of the city. The BIP ZIP Programme aims to create a city for all, empower people and communities, based on several premises, including: Lisbon is a city of neighbourhoods which express diversity; there are forgotten neighbourhoods in the city that can be remodelled; there is a visible socio-territorial divide/fracture in the city; through participative processes in citizenship is possible to engage each and every community in presence.
This programme reflects some of the aims of this initiative, such as encouraging citizenship and self-organisation among residents, to contribute to a positive image of the areas and to create a favourable climate for civic initiative.
As such, Academia CV.pt was one of the social innovation projects funded by the Municipality of Lisbon under this programme. Lisbon is a financial founder and a key local partner since the beginning.
This project is promoted in partnership by two NGOs: Lisbon City Foundation and Renovar a Mouraria Association, that aim to work towards the psychosocial, academic and civic development of migrant children in situations of vulnerability. Based on the model of individualised tutoring and with the support of skilled volunteers, this project integrates 2 main areas of action: the promotion of school success and education for citizenship.
Process: The project benefited from the funding of the BIP ZIP Programme and also from the Portugal Social Innovation Programme. The project is based on a methodology that has been tested in various areas of Lisbon and has been pedagogically and scientifically validated by the Faculty of Education (University of Lisbon).
Academia CV.pt involves local, municipal, national and international level strategic players: School clusters, Ministry of Education, AIMA (Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum), City Councils, Parish Councils, Parents' Associations, NGOs and civil society organisations.
Each edition improves the methodology, develops new activities and grows with new partners, territories, beneficiaries and ambitions.
The project implements different activities:
- Weekly individualised tutoring sessions for migrant children and youth (from 3yo to 12yo)
- Network of volunteer tutors from the community, that give tutoring sessions in the schools
- Family engagement actions, for migrant families that need integration support
- Sessions in the classroom to promote interculturalism, for every child and youngster (from 3yo to 12yo)
- Training for teachers and non-teaching staff, to raise awareness for interculturalism and global citizenship issues
- Pedagogical resources for skills development, published in the website, that can be replicated in any context (check the pedagogical kit here)
Impact: From September 2016 until July 2024 the project achieved the following results:
- 391 volunteers trained
- 212 training hours for volunteers
- 659 migrant children supported
- 5 057 children involved in sensibilization activities
- 460 parents engaged
- 14 951 hours of volunteering
- 10 141 hours of tutoring sessions
- 574 intercultural activities in classes
- 934 activities that engaged families
- 68 school staff trained
- 78 pedagogical resources created
Regarding the development of competences and skills (language, social, personal and academic) every student is evaluated at the beginning and at the end of the school year by the responsible teacher/educator. After one school year, the project verifies an average increase of more than 30% in personal, social, academic and communication skills in Portuguese Language.
Regarding the satisfaction of all the participants, the project implements a questionnaire for teachers, children, families and volunteers, mid-term and at the end of each school year. The project concluded that teachers, educators and volunteers are better trained for the integration of migrant children - the level of satisfaction of the educational professionals and volunteers with the project exceeds 90%.
The continuity and continuous growth of the project, since 2016 until today, reveals its sustainability and scalability - two reasons that show why the Municipality of Lisbon wants to invest further in this local partnership. Every year, the methodologies improve, the activities become richer, and the project grows in partners and ambition. In the end, the project contributed to the creation of schools for all, which value cultural diversity.
Key reference documents:
