Aqua

AQua - Availability & Quality aims at a positive (r)evaluation of job-oriented actions for unemployed or job-seekingmigrants (18-25 years) by means of an international exchange of experiences in three ways: I. existing good practices in the area of educational policies and measures for migrants are identified II. a comparative analysis of existing policies is conducted and evaluated III. detailed recommendations are given for an improved evaluation of educational policies for migrants. Main activities are carried out in cooperation of the expert organisations of the project partners Austria, Cyprus,Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey together with rapporteurs and external experts forming a steeringcommittee.They include I. data analyses II. comparative research III. exchange meetings IV. an international conference V. dissemination. Main outcomes of AQua are: I. comparative reports on the existence of specific policies and measures and on various methods used forevaluation II. recommendations concerning an improvement in the countries involved and the European Union III. an international conference with all actors in the field IV. a catalogue of measures helping to improve educational policies for migrants. The target group benefiting from the outcomes includes policy makers, researchers, practitioners and representatives of interest groups, especially of migrant organisations.

Comparative Report

Jens Friebe (DIE)

- The situation of young people in the educational system and on the labour market

- Policies and measures taken for the target group

Introduction

The project groups in the different countries have dealt with the topic by looking at diverse target groups. Their various social, legal and cultural conditions will come into effect when discussing the question of their participation in the educational system and on the labour market. The reports from Germany and Austria, countries with a more than thirty-year-long-history of immigration which goes back to the so called “Guest Worker Programme”, look at the situation of immigrants of the 2nd and 3rd generation in the educational system and on the labour market. Sweden, however, has never known any comparable developments but for many years it has been absorbing different groups of refugees. In the other participating countries - Cyprus, Slovakia and Turkey - the conditions of the chosen target groups show yet again new aspects of migration. The example of Cyprus gives insides on the temporary labour immigration, the Slovakian report describes the situation of an “ethnic minority”, the Roma, and the report from Turkey informs its readers about the situation of immigrants in the country using the example of the city Istanbul. Despite the differences all the reports have one thing in common: in the educational system as well as on the labour market migrants have lower chances than their native counterparts. This hypothesis will be verified by the following evaluation of the particular national reports.

AQua - Availability & Quality zielt auf eine positive R/Evaluierung arbeitsmarktorientierter Maßnahmen für arbeitslose bzw. arbeitsuchende MigrantInnen (18-25 Jahre) ab. Dabei nutzt das Projekt auf dreifache Weise internationalen Erfahrungsaustausch:

I. Identifizierung bestehender Good Practices auf dem Gebiet der Bildungspolitik sowie Maßnahmen für MigrantInnen

II. Durchführung und Evaluierung einer Vergleichsanalyse bestehender Good Practices

III. Genaue Empfehlungen für eine verbesserte Evaluierung bildungspolitischer Maßnahmen für MigrantInnen

Die Durchführung der Hauptaufgaben erfolgt in Kooperation zwischen den ExpertInnenorganisationen der ProjektpartnerInnen Österreich, Deutschland, Slowakei, Schweden und der Türkei zusammen mit RapporteurInnen und externen ExpertInnen, die ein Steering-Komitee bilden.

Diese Aktivitäten beinhalten

I. Datenanalyse

II. Vergleichstudien

III. Austauschmeetings

IV. eine internationale Konferenz

V. Verbreitung

Hauptergebnisse von “AQua" sind

I. vergleichende Berichte über bestehende spezifische Politiken und Maßnahmen sowie über

verschiedene Methoden, die für Evaluationen angewendet werden

II. Empfehlungen für Verbesserungen in den betreffenden Ländern und in der Europäischen Union

III. eine internationale Konferenz mit allen AkteurInnen auf dem Gebiet

IV. ein Maßnahmenkatalog zur Verbesserung der Bildungspolitik für MigrantInnen

Die Zielgruppen, die von den Ergebnissen profitieren, sind PolitikerInnen, ForscherInnen und RepräsentantInnen von Interessensvertretungen, vor allem von MigrantInnenorganisationen.

Ausgangslage

Die Teilhabe junger Erwachsener mit Migrationshintergrund am Berufsleben und in der Gesellschaft ist in Deutschland unzureichend. Das Projekt Aqua wird die Berufschancen junger Erwachsener mit Migrationshintergrund untersuchen, die zentralen Bildungsbarrieren ermitteln und bestehende Projekte guter Praxis darstellen. Besonders wird der Frage nach gegangen, in wiefern die Potentiale von Migrantinnen und Migranten anerkannt und in Weiterbildung bzw. Berufsarbeit genutzt werden können.

German Report: Project “Availability and Quality” (AQua)

The social development in Germany is inconsistent for young adults with migration background. On the one hand the labour market chances of migrants increase due to the long-term trend of an ageing German society and on the other hand the participation of young adults with migration background in professional life is difficult. Missing training placements make it complicated for young people to attain adequate training and lasting professional chances. Especially migrants remain outside from the world of work through multiple disadvantages.

In 2006 15, 3 million (19%) inhabitants with migration background lived in Germany. 25% of young people (15-21 years) had a migration background. The selected target group “people of Turkish origin” are very numerous in Germany. There are 1.8 million Turkish citizens living in Germany and in addition about 730 000 naturalized people of Turkish descent. There is a considerable difference between the occupational training level of young migrants of Turkish descent and the training level of Germans. Half of all migrants do not have an occupational training; only one quarter has a school certificate and a vocational training degree. Turkish girls and young women are disproportionately disadvantaged when they change from school to occupation.

The text examines the training and job chances of young adults with migration background and the central formation barriers. The main actors of social and educational politics are pointed out and an overview of measures is presented. In Germany there are numerous projects to be found which want to improve training and professional chances of young migrants. The projects have frequently different emphases:

- Information and guidance fore young persons with migration background and also for employers.

- Improvement of access to the training or job market.

- Promotion of educational and linguistic knowledge, application training and aids for searching a working place.

Three projects of “good practice” are described in detail and their evaluation concept is investigated. The projects fulfil important criteria: They are cooperative, they take into account the resources of the participants, and they respect the life and working environment and have a clear curriculum with a pedagogical concept. Only the first of the described project has published an evaluation report and cited in literature. The other projects reported about dissemination activities and products in newsletters. They delivered recommendations for practice, seminars / events and catalogues of successful activities to ensure the project results. So they used single elements to evaluate the outcomes of projects but they didn’t produce transparent evaluations.

The report presents five expert interviews to discuss evaluation of policies and measures regarding young people with migration background. The experts pointed out, that projects of good practice have to support the intermediation and integration in the labour market. The activities are very important, because young people with migration background belong to the disadvantaged groups of education in Germany. But many of the existing projects and measures don’t fulfil the requirements and they are not orientated on the resources and needs of their participants. A main problem is the missing continuity of projects. The project evaluation is regarded as an important matter but only a few projects give information about it. The experts believe that evaluation often only confirm the interest of project executing organisations and of political purchasers. But evaluations must be independent, passed extern and have to analyse failures. We need a new culture of evaluation on national, regional and local level. At any rate the inclusion of people with migration background becomes more important in the German society due to demographic changes and challenges of social coherence. Policies and measure for young adults with migration background have to be adjusted and re-evaluated to solve the problems of tomorrow.