“School failure is not unavoidable. There are solutions in concrete school practices to be found in the margins of freedom that headteachers allow themselves and considering the school as a place to live in. Those headteachers take a position of driving force, organiser, guarantee of the school project. With their team, they develop a trustful and voluntary ambition. They believe in their students’ abilities to progress, and in their own ability to change things. Professionalism is required, as well as support of students outside the class.”
School Practices and Equity, Benoît De Waele, SeGEC (Secrétariat Général de l’Enseignement Catholique, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Belgium):
These guidelines, addressed to headteachers, have the following objectives:
- Identify the main bottlenecks and strengths, as well as threats and opportunities, regarding the inclusiveness and school success of immigrant students in your school. (Steps 1 – 2)
- Establish mechanisms that allow you to get to know the immigrant students. (Step 3)
- Learn about appropriate educational supports and organisational responses in order to accomplish a better integration of immigrant students. (Steps 4 – 5)
- Define school strategies that you may implement to make sure your school adopts a proactive policy towards the successful integration of immigrant students. (Steps 6 – 10)
Here is the list of the 10 steps: