20 de Octubre de 2009 Project: Education for migrant children and youth Office of Education and Culture

This afternoon’s presentation Brief overview of the project General information about migrant children and youth in the Americas Preliminary results of Phase 1

Brief overview of the project “Education for migrant children and youth”

Policy framework Inter-American Program for the Promotion and Protection of the Human Rights of Migrants – Adopted by the General Assembly in resolution AG/RES (XXXV-O/05) Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices – Approved by the Fourth Meeting of Ministers of Education within the framework of CIDI (OEA/Ser. W/I.18/05) and ratified by the General Assembly in resolutions AG/RES 2164 (XXXVI-O/06), AG/RES (XXXVIII-O/08), and AG/RES (XXXIX-O/09)

Objective: To document, systematize, and promote lessons learned from successful policies, programs, and practices geared towards providing quality educational experiences to migrant children and youth. Expected impact: To increase knowledge and capacity within Ministries of Education in order to develop, implement, and evaluate programs to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for migrant children and youth.

Beneficiaries: Migrant children and youth in OAS member states, families of migrant children and youth, policy makers, program coordinators, and educators working with migrant children and youth. Territories: All OAS member states Duration: Funding: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) 3 years:

Fase 1: Mapeo de políticas y programas a nivel nacional Fase 2: Estudio de casos Fase 3: Seminario Internacional Productos Fase 1: Revisión bibliográfica sobre literatura acerca de educación para migrantes en la región Encuesta a los Ministerios de Educación sobre políticas y programas educativos existentes. 22 países han respondido. Informe analítico de políticas y programas nacionales (en proceso) Reporte finalCompartir lecciones aprendidas Recomendaciones de política para educación de niños y jóvenes migrantes

General information about migrant children and youth in the Americas

Foreign-born children and youth 0 to 19 years old (in selected countries of Latin America and the Caribbean) Source: Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama: 2000 Census Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Honduras: 2001 Census Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Paraguay: 2002 Census

Foreign-born children and youth (in the United States and Canada) United States: 1,868,312 children and youth 5 to 19 years old born abroad –according to data from the 2000 Census. In the region, the United States is the country with the largest number of immigrants within its population. Canada: 63,525 children and youth 0 to 25 years old (Facts and figures Immigration overview: Permanent and temporary residents)

Access: Percentage attending and not attending educational institutions in 4 selected countries Source: SIEMMES-IOM Project based on National Population Census information

Performance * Data for PISA 2006, except for United States (PISA 2003) Mathematics Exam Science Exam Language Exam*

Preliminary results of the project “Education for migrant children and youth”

Scope and limitations of the subject Subject range: The topic “education for migrant children and youth” often comprises topics on diversity or on minorities in general Geographic concentration: The majority of the actions, programs, and policies are in the Northern Hemisphere, mainly in the United States Lack of systematized and comparable data Early development of research and academic material on the subject

General results of the surveys Most of the countries that replied to the survey reported that they had no policy, measure, or program geared towards migrant children and youth, neither did they have any measurement tool to know how many migrant children and youth reside in their respective territories. Some countries replied that while they had no policies, they did have activities that included the target populations of this study. Many of these measures are programs that also benefit another type of vulnerable populations (Indigenous peoples or children that have dropped out of school or are at risk of doing so, persons with disabilities, etc.)

General results of the surveys Seven countries replied that they did have an education policy in place for migrant children and youth. However, some of these countries had no specific law, resolution, or institutions, or a specifically-allocated budget. Instead, they have programs that are wider in scope. The United States is the country with the best developed education policy for migrants.

Some conclusions Migrant students face more challenges than native-born students in terms of access and performance. Other issues touch on the situation of migrant children and young people, beyond their immigration status (lower socio-economic status, families separated by borders, need to work at any cost in order to look after themselves, etc.) For most of the countries, addressing the issue of migrant children and youth is about more than school; it also entails other social policies such as access to housing and health care.

Some conclusions Teachers often do not receive the specific training and education needed to handle classrooms with students of different origins. A significant lack of specific legislation on the issue is observed, in addition to lack of state budget, with some exceptions. The programs and actions are very diverse in terms of issues covered and target population. Education for migrant children and youth is often included with bilingual education and inter-cultural education. There is rarely any systematizing or documenting of the issue and of lessons learned.

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