Fostering a Sense of Belonging as an Important First Step to Successful Integration of Migrant Children

Schools have a key role in the process of migrant children integration into a new society. Countries’ policies for fostering multicultural education and integration of migrant children into new educational systems and environments have a significant impact on migrant children`s well-being, success in school and further on the labour market, and their lives in general. The national project “Challenges of intercultural coexistence” is one of the important actions of the Slovene Ministry for Education, Science and Sports, aiming to foster supportive environments in educational institutions and development of competences of teachers in order to ensure a successful integration of migrant children. The proposal of the comprehensive program for successful integration of migrant children into the Slovene educational system has been developed in the framework of this project. The program has been tested and evaluated in the current school year. It focuses on three key factors of successful integration: fostering social inclusion and a sense of belonging, providing intensive language learning, and fostering supportive networks in schools and local communities.

A sense of belonging and having positive relationships with others are fundamental human needs. When not met they can undermine our performance, health, and well-being. As such, they are key factors for successful integration of migrant children. The paper presents the core activities and preliminary findings of the proposed program evaluation, focusing on the relational aspects of social inclusion. The perspective of migrant children, their parents, peers and teachers is highlighted.