Purpose:
The programme aims at:
- Mainstreaming an intercultural approach in schools, by valuing the different cultures present at the school and by working with all the school actors, from directors to teachers, psychologists, students and other non-teaching staff (guards, cleaners, canteen workers, etc.).
- Providing support to newly-arrived children’s parents by introducing them into school life, by keeping them informed and encouraging their participation in meetings and activities.
- Encouraging newly-arrived families to learn the Basque language or at least to become familiar with some expressions. In order to foster their participation, the municipality offers a wide range of free or low-cost Basque courses.
Stimulus/Rationale:
The programme was first implemented in the framework of the city’s intercultural strategy (2014). It is aimed at introducing a comprehensive intercultural approach in schools, favouring the integration of newly-arrived families and encouraging newcomers to learn more about the Basque culture and language.
Process:
The project was born from volunteering parents. Interestingly, the first parents got involved in the project as they saw how diversity was present at the school playgrounds, and they wanted to create bounds between children, parents and families, as part of the school community.
This programme was born in 2014, at the initiative of a group of professional mothers from the social field, interested in achieving an intercultural relationship between all the families that belonged to the educational community of Aitor Ikastola, a public school in the Egia neighbourhood of Donostia (Gipuzkoa). The action was implemented by the municipality and partly sponsored by the Basque Government.
This innovative and voluntary experience, after its success, became a professional project, through the social initiative cooperative "Elkarrekin" and supported by the Donostia City Council, has been implemented in other centres, reaching 6 districts of the city and several municipalities in the territory of Gipuzkoa.
How it works
The programme identifies families in the class meetings at the beginning of the course to mentor and to be accompanied. A newly-arrived family is put into contact with a local family who helps and supports them in order to lose their fear and become familiar and confident with the school’s functioning and customs. The local family becomes the newly-arrived family’s “companion” (known as “familia laguna” in the Basque language).
Several activities are planned during the year. Additionally, most of the families organise social activities (via WhatsApp groups) to share spare time, and to strengthen social capital for all.
Usually, families have children in the same classrooms so that the two-year programme of support can include both scholar and extra-scholar/social activities.
Sukaldanitzak – Diverse gastronomies
One of the actions that takes place within the framework of this programme is ‘Sukaldanitzak’, which aims at promoting gastronomic and cultural exchange and interaction. The activity itself consists of giving Cooking Workshops in gastronomic societies in Donostia by citizens from different cultures and gastronomies, which are attended in each workshop by 15 people who want to learn first-hand about these different gastronomic cultures. Of these 15 people, 5 are usually members of the gastronomic society where the workshops take place and the rest are residents of the neighbourhood and the rest of Donostia.
After the workshop, every year there is usually a popular meal for approximately 30 people, which is attended by the people who have taken part in the workshop and also by several people related to the associations that have been in charge of giving the cooking workshops.
Impact:
The number of families participating in the programme in 2021 was 221 families (autochthonous and newcomers) of diverse origins represented by 35 countries of origin and 45 different languages.
This has been proved to be a very efficient way of favouring the integration of new arrivals in school but also in the neighbourhood and raising awareness of their entitlement to school and public services.
The programme has an impact on professors, students and parents, while raising awareness about the diversity advantage for the overall population.
Key reference documents: Resource guides for families in the neighbourhood
