Arcka Project

This project has been financed by the European Commision, Directorate General Home Affairs (Immigration and Asylum), Integration Fund Community Action.

Project Leader: Galdus Società Cooperativa (Italy).

Partners:

- University of Huelva (Spain);

- Ada-und-Theodor-Lessing Volkshochschule Hannover (Germany);

- Fundatia Parada (Romania);

- General Direction of Coordination in Public Policies of Immigration, Regional Government of Andalusía (Spain);

- Nouveau Saint-Servais asbl (Belgium);

- Stichting Katholieke Universiteit Brabant (the Netherlands).
 
Researchers at the University of Huelva:

- Estrella Gualda (Project Leader)

- Carmen Márquez Vázquez (Secretary)

- Juan Carlos Andreo Tudela (UPO)

- Marta Ruiz García

- José Andrés Domínguez Gómez

- Iván Rodríguez Pascual

- Isidro Marín Gutiérrez

- Patricia Ruiz Ángel

Duration: 18 months (15/ 12/ 2010 – 14 /06/ 2012).

Priority 2: Promote integration measures targeting young population and addressing specific gender issues.

Description: The proposal, focusing on secondary education (11-18 years old students) aims to improve comparative knowledge on good practices of assessments and recognition of knowledge, skills and competences of migrant students entering and exiting the education system, in order to adapt teaching skills, to avoid the placement of migrant children in lower than their age appropriate grades and to support new forms of knowledge certification useful for job research and mobility. The project promotes an effective mutual exchange at translocal level between educational staff to share experiences and to identify common criteria to disseminate good practices in the assessing and recognising of migrant students competences and to improve equity and wellbeing in education, involving also migrant families.

ARCKA, first, conducts context analysis and elaborates a set of indicators in the involved countries (Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania). Second, the practices of assessment and recognition of prior learning and skills certification of third-country nationals' students are mapped. Third, criteria and selection of good practices are identified. Fourth, guidelines and recommendations to promote third-country national students' well being and success and to involve parents in cooperative actions to support children school careers are elaborated. Finally, fifth, mainstreaming and dissemination of the activities are developed.

Expected Results:

1. Continuous updates on the state of the art of the project on partner websites; 

2. Two round tables in each partner country involving selected stakeholders (scientific community, migrant associations, referees of the education system, etc.) and inviting a wider audience (also composed of migrant families and students, social workers and general public) to discuss the outcomes of the project;

3. Edited outputs published in a cd-rom an circulated among a wide range if selected stakeholders;

4. A final conference is organised for presenting the results to the European Commission, to locally based European education and migrant networks and to other relevant European-level stakeholders;

5. Press releases are issued for newspaper and radio press contacts.

More information in:

http://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/funding/integration/summaries_eif_ca_2009_awarded_projects.pdf;

http://www.synergia-net.it/en/progetti-europei/arcka-%E2%80%93-assessing-recognizing-competences-and-certifying-knowledge-acquisition-valuing-human-capital-of-children-of-foreign-origin-in-education-and-training-in-europe-pre118-pe29.html.