Purpose: To create a group of immigrant or immigrant descendent mediators (giving them training and support) in order to develop activities of animation and mediation in contexts signalled by the teachers, functioning as a resource for the various educational activities.
Stimulus/Rationale: These mediators are interlocutors in the pupil/school/ guardian triangle and a source for signalling specific individualised interventions. Besides identifying and supporting specific situations, the mediators act as conflict managers, preventing and managing conflicts and miscommunications occurring within the school settings with a focus on win-win solutions. At the same time, the programme provides professional training and work experience to young people that are often outside the job market and may be facing difficulties finding qualified employment. Thus, the project aims to help young people develop careers and a path in life.
Process: The action consists in working with young adults (18-30 years old) who are unemployed and live in social contexts of exclusion, often coinciding with the provenance of the students, and facilitates the relationship enabling their identification and intervention. The mediators receive a comprehensive previous non-formal training to develop their social, emotional and job skills to enhance their employability chances, and also professional training in animation and mediation followed by in-context training within schools, benefiting also from professional mentoring. The partners committed to the practice are organised into a consortium that includes schools, youth associations, toy libraries and non-profit associations that monitor the project. The consortium plays a central role in helping to break down prejudices about some families by trying other ways of approaching situations.
Impact: Schools feel that they have a quality resource: availability to play with students in the playground, management of emerging conflicts among students, identification and signalling of situations and challenges. Currently, 84 mediators work in 27 schools and educational spaces in Cascais.
Key reference documents: https://www.cascais.pt/projeto/educagz-educa-pt-educa-sdr
