The international seminar “Social dialogue in the education sector” (part 2) was held in Gdansk from 17 to 19 of January 2018, organized by KK NSZZ "Solidarność" (Komisja Krajowa NSZZ "Solidarność"), in cooperation with the EZA Platform for Education, with the support of EZA and of the European Union. There were 30 representatives of workers’ organisations from Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Portugal, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Austria and Lithuania.
The objective of the seminar was to exchange experiences in the frame of migration policy in the EU countries in particular concerning education aspect and to define social partners challenges on this issue as well as to determine actions that could mitigate the effects of the migration crisis.
The seminar participants were welcomed by Tadeusz Majchrowicz - Vice-president of NSZZ “Solidarność” who briefly spoke about Poland's migration policy, giving as an example a very large number of citizens of Ukraine and Belarus who in recent years came to Poland and assimilate very well in our country.
Then Józef Mozolewski - Deputy Chairman of the EZA reminded that after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Poland has accepted more than 1 million citizens of this country without looking at other countries, recognizing it as an obligation and an absolutely natural thing. The situation is similar in relation to Chechens and Belarusians, which confirms that Poland is pursuing a migration policy aimed primarily at neighbouring countries from outside the EU that require the necessary assistance.
After the technical information was provided to the participants by moderator Elżbieta Wielg, the German representative Mrs Melanie Tröndle - a teacher and adviser to teachers and parents - began the lecture part. She quoted her experiences with students from other countries and trying to assimilate in a new place with new colleagues, learn both German and English in a very short time which causes them a lot of problems and making a lot of frustration. She pointed out the mismatch of the education system with needs of migrants, which results in cultural, psychological and emotional problems of these people. Mrs. Tröndle drew attention to the important role of teachers in shaping the attitudes of migrant children and stressed the importance of their appropriate preparation and necessary empathy towards foreigners, which greatly facilitates the functioning and adaptation in the new environment. In Germany there is a preparatory system to teach German language (up to 1 year) before the child of foreigners starts traditional teaching.
Next presentation was delivered by Diederik Brink from CNVO who divided migrant workers into 3 groups: refugees and people seeking asylum, economic migrants from inside and outside the EU. The 1st group are refugees looking for shelter in the Netherlands. They are distributed in proportion to the local population, there is a demand on the local labour market, but they cannot be employed unless their asylum status is approved. The second group consists mainly of track drivers and construction workers moving in accordance with the principle of free movement of people, but at the same time pushing domestic workers out of the local labour market as a result of lower wages. The third group are immigrants from outside the EU, i.e. former overseas colonies, who still do not meet the needs of the local labour market. In the area of health care, technicians and other highly qualified employees are willingly accepted to work which, in turn, drains other countries from highly specialized experts and make further inequalities in the economics of less developed countries. In the Netherlands, there is primarily a communication problem visible in contacts with parents who do not know any foreign language, which means that they cannot be an authority for children and they cannot assimilate themselves. Mr. Brink drew attention to the growing populist and nationalistic movements in many EU countries, whose aim is not to solve the problem, but to blow it up and gain benefits in the next election. He also stressed the importance of common European and trade union values and the need to find a common solution, to treat each other like a partner as we have been connected with each other for a long time and then move on to technical solutions and to develop a common position on migration. According to Diederik Brink the lack of accordance is caused by communication problems, so it is important to learn 1 common second language (e.g. English) in order to better understand, improve your situation, get to know and understand your rights, and consequently become as EU competitive in relation to other markets.
Then, moderator Elżbieta Wielg initiated a conversation about the assumptions of subsequent meetings of the educational platform and the selection of topics that will concern educational challenges in the face of the ubiquitous digital world. Members of the group agreed on the importance of the topic and deal with it at the next meeting. Later, the participants started to work out procedures for mutual communication and realization of the principle of implementing recommendations developed at meetings of the educational platform at the local and regional level in the discussed area in particular country. Representatives of NSZZ "S" from Poland gave an example of submitting recommendations to Voivodship Councils for Social Dialogue with a request to include them in the work of these institutions in individual regions. In addition, the recommendations were provided to local governments and the Minister of National Education.
Another speech was presented by Monika Kończyk - Regional Chief Education Officer in Pomorskie, who presented systemic solutions to help children of foreigners in Poland and presented educational challenges in the context of migration policy. All these children up to 18 years have the same rights in access to public schools as Polish citizens. Additional Polish language are available to teach to a level that allows you to start learning, but in practice there is a problem with their funding. There are also compensatory classes for language training or participation in preparatory departments, which are financed from the state budget. External examinations are fortified with facilities in the form of extended time and availability of other teaching aids, i.e. dictionaries. The number of children of foreigners in Pomeranian schools is over 1,200, of which the vast majority are Ukrainians, and then much less Russians and Belarusians. However, the number of teachers teaching Polish as a foreign language is insufficient, which is currently the main problem on the way to integration these children.
The next day began with a study visit at Primary School No. 16 in Gdansk, where children of immigrants from Chechnya, Ukraine, Crimea and Tajikistan learn. The guests were greeted by the headmaster of the school, Nina Markiewicz-Sobieraj, who after a short artistic performance presenting traditional dances and songs performed by children from different cultures, talked about the school's experience in the education of children with migration experience. The beginnings of this work were very difficult due to the lack of knowledge of the Polish language by both children and their parents, as well as problems with the preparation of appropriate educational materials, which meant that both sides were very lost. As a result of numerous trainings and conferences of the teaching staff, learning the rights of foreigners, the ability to pass knowledge, convince parents to cooperate with the school and gain mutual respect, the situation began to improve and integration of immigrant children was possible. Then, the Director presented ways to overcome the adaptation difficulties of foreign pupils, i.e.: joint extracurricular activities, information cabinets about their countries of origin, the creation of a school European club, the organization of the national day with the participation of immigrant families. Other tools used to assimilate foreigners at school include: welcome to a new student, starter package, workshops open to parents, organization of class educational projects, joint trips around Gdansk and the surrounding area. In Poland, there is also a cultural assistant institution, which is a spokesperson for immigrant pupils, as well as a link between parents and school. The above actions have produced very positive effects such as: lack of ethnic and religious aggression, enriching the knowledge of Polish students about the culture and countries of origin of immigrant children, shaping tolerant attitudes, developing positive interpersonal relations between students, as well as parents and school. It was also possible to convince parents to contact the pedagogue and school psychologist and the students start learning in the next educational stage, which is the greatest success of the presented model. On its basis, the visited school became the team leader of the immigrant integration model, which has been implemented in Gdansk schools for over a year.
The next speaker was Maria Reina Martin from the Association for Education, Research and Social Development of Employees - FIDESTRA on migration flows from the perspective of Portugal. Migration movements are inscribed in the DNA of this country and just as digitalization is a path without return, although it is also a threat to jobs for people. She stressed the great importance of the system of recognition of qualifications and competences in different countries. Another fundamental of active citizenship and employability is life-long education and continuous development, which provides opportunities for continuous work. The role of trade unions and workers is fundamental in these matters and we need to work on the competence of migrants to become valuable employees. Next, the participants of the meeting, like after each presentation, conducted in-depth discussions on migration, in particular regarding the so-called return migration, which is an increasing problem, because children of such emigrants do not know their mother tongue after years of learning a foreign language.
The summary of the discussion and the lecture part was made by Józef Mozolewski - Deputy Chairman of the EZA, emphasizing the importance of the topic discussed and the importance of the evaluation process in continually raising the level of work of the EZA working groups.
Later, the moderator Elżbieta Wielg divided the participants into two workshop groups on topics: a. Identification of tasks for the educational platform in the area of migration (type of tasks, form of their implementation and mutual communication about the effects of work), b) presentation of the advantages and disadvantages of the educational platform and preparing proposals for changes.
The position of the 1st international group was presented by Diederik Brink from the CNVO, which included the most important tasks: supporting teachers through the exchange of information and good practices. The second group included the exchange of experiences and support for teachers through. They also proposed combining the work of two platforms: educational and migration, as well as presenting the work of the platform to EC. They formulated national and regional recommendations: increasing the budget in schools to help immigrant children and teachers and increasing financial outlays for long-life learning. The information should be provided through: direct meetings of participants, short videos and presentations, the website of the educational platform and Facebook. In response to the issue, the second group mentioned the advantages of the group's work, i.e. the manner of selecting individual tasks, experts and issues of meetings and the way of formulating recommendations. The disadvantages include the difficulty of finding one solution / recommendation that will be effective for all countries. They also suggested changes in the form of increased cooperation with the EC.