Lifelong Learning Programme

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Success Stories

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TITLE OF THE SUCCESS STORY
Unity is strength
COUNTRY WHERE IT TOOK PLACE
Italy
AUTHOR OF THE SUCCESS STORY
Teacher
SCHOOL TYPOLOGY
High Secondary School
THEMATIC AREA
Integration of immigrants students
DESCRIPTION OF THE SUCCESS STORY
Fatima, a fifteen Macedonian, has lived with her family in Italy for several years. Her alcoholic father does not work and spends the little money that comes from the work of her mother, for drinking, in the camp where they live, there are also other brothers and sisters ( six children in all). Unfortunately, we know that one of the children has the same problem of her father. Among the sisters, the youngest, reports the same problems of Fatima, just because she scarcely attends school and when she is present, she expresses in class all its social difficulties.
School absences are due primarily (though not exclusively)to the impossibility to get a mean of transport access for the disastrous economic situation. Often the student gets on the coach without a ticket and experiences the humiliation of receiving a report and having to repay the amount. To this are added the problems closely related to the cultural poverty of the family and the resulting (almost total) absence of stimuli.
The first year of school has gone bad (could it be otherwise?)She has not been admitted to the upper class . The teacher-team has pointed out that the difficulties mentioned above were added to the absolute impossibility of carrying out the tasks assigned at home: a minimum of work in the afternoon, when required, was never done. La sensazione condivisa dai docenti segnala una progressiva riduzione di autostima da parte di Fatima. e l’assenza di un sorriso sul suo volto. È “abbottonata”, chiusa in sé stessa, rifiuta di “aprire il piumino”, cioè di condividere qualcosa con qualcuno; sempre imbronciata, non traspare dal suo volto un gesto di serenità.
The impression shared by the teachers underlined a progressive reduction of self-esteem in Fatima. Unable to "keep pace" of the class, not self-sufficient from an economic point of view, unable, for example, to all extra-curricular activities typical of a teenager, Fatima appeared to all of them as she lived her young life with pain: one of the bitter notes that emerge from his behavior, emphasized by some of them, is the habit of keeping the down jacket throughout the day (and maybe even if it is hot) and the absence of a smile on his face. It is "buttoned up", closed in herself,she refuses to "open her down jacket", that is, to share something with someone, always grumpy, no expression on his face, a sort of peace.
Her mother (who works in open conflict with the cultural environment of the family) is a woman able to ask for help and to facilitate those who wish to intervene. This allowed the teachers,at the beginning of the school year ,to coordinate the interventions put in place to facilitate the schooling of Fatima.
The Waldensian Church, the Catholic Church, Caritas, a local family who hosted the student, guaranteeing food and lodging, following her as much as possible even in her studies coordinated by the school, in the role of teamteachers, all of them " bet "on Fatima organizing time and manner of recovery.
There have been difficulties: her culture and the economic aspect which the involved subjects had to fight with, have allowed the overcoming of the school year and her entry in the second class.
Academic success is crucial and moreover her personal success: to promote herself especially in terms of self-esteem, awareness of her own capabilities, integration with other components of the class. These goals are equally important and give her hope for the future.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The school considers the measures put in place in favor of Fatima a success. For several reasons.
The first and fundamental one concerns the student, not only for the promotion to the next class! Her self esteem, the awareness of her capabilities with the certainty of being able to achieve positive results as her schoolmates, allow Fatima to live a season of peace. Then, the success of the intervention allows us
that this for Fatima is a starting point, a turning point in her life. This may seem a coincidence (it seems to us a "logical" consequence), but this time in her young life was also enhanced by having found a boyfriend , and this was unthinkable only a few months before!

On the other hand, it is clear, as this success has been achieved thanks to a team effort: the involvement of multiple actors (from school, civil society and religious associations), coordinated by the school, guarantor of the intervention not only academic but capable of distributing tasks also economic between the different actors, stands as the procedure to be followed in similar cases in Vocational Education, will never cease. Indeed, they are continuing to rise, given, among other things, the difficult economic season that mainly affects the families of our students.
We willingly emphasize the different belongings of the protagonists in the history of Fatima: a state school, but two Christian churches but of different creeds, an association, a family. A real network of relationships, a union that has become the key of the success.
Finally. We cultivate a reasonable hope of a "contagion" among peers within the same culture. In our Institute we have many students who belong to the same cultural roots: how will they react in front of this success? It will be our task to strengthen and verify the results obtained, in a period of time, the good practice put in place to Fatima.
The school considers the measures put in place in favor of Fatima a success. For several reasons.
The first and fundamental concerns the student, not only for the promotion to the next class! Her self esteem, decision-awareness of its capabilities with the certainty of being able to achieve positive results as his teammates, allow Fatima to live a season of peace. The success of the intervention allows, then, for Fatima to hope that this is not a starting point, a turning point in his life. This may seem a coincidence (it seems to us a "logical" consequence), but this time in his young life was also enhanced by association with a boy unthinkable only a few months before!

On the other hand, it is clear, as this success has been achieved thanks to a team effort: the involvement of multiple actors (schools, civil society and religious), coordinated by the school, guarantor of the intervention not only school but capable of distribute tasks also economic in nature between the different actors, stands as the procedure to be followed in similar cases in Vocational Education, will never cease. Indeed, they are continuing to rise, given, among other things, the difficult economic season that mainly affects the families of our students. Like to emphasize the different affiliations of the protagonists in the history of Fatima: a state school, but two Christian churches of various denominations, an association, a family. A real network of relationships, a union that has become the key to success.
Finally, we cultivate a reasonable hope of a "contagion" among peers within the same culture. In our Institute are many pupils who belong to the same cultural roots: how they will react in the face of this success? It will be our task to strengthen and verify the results obtained in time the good practice put in place to Fatima.

20 December 2014

Final Partners’ meeting

The fourth partners’ meeting took place in Florence (IT) on 15 December 2014. The meeting had the objective to check the activities carried out since the third meeting of the project and share and assess the in progress results. A special focus has been dedicated to the presentation of the strategies to solve the case scenarios.