The whole-school approach and the horizontal inter-connectedness of schools is identified in the literature as one of the key factors ensuring inclusion and equity in education. Several recent EU-level and national strategies have highlighted the important role of non-formal learning in integrating children of migrant backgrounds (Burlacu, 2012; European Commission, 2015). This is especially important, given the fact that children spend around 85% of their active time outside school (Medrich, 1982). Cooperation between non-formal education actors and schools can therefore provide an extra dimension to traditional education practices, strengthening the capacity of schools to address the individual needs of newly arriving migrant learners (Malcolm et al, 2003; Spieß, 2016; UNESCO, 2017). Although the benefits of such cooperation upon children’s holistic development are widely recognised in literature and policy strategies, as yet no systematic approach exists in practice. Neither does there appear to be a clear understanding among many education stakeholders of the need for synergies between different types of education providers, and of the mechanisms by which such partnerships could function in a sustainable and continuous way for the benefit of all children, and migrant children in particular. Nevertheless, SIRIUS research (Lipnickienė, Siarova and van der Graaf, 2018) suggests that numerous examples of ad hoc projects and practices exist across Member States, implemented by various civil society actors and individual schools to facilitate the inclusion of migrant and refugee children into education process. This paper offers an analysis of these practices, looking into how schools and non-formal education actors can work together to create safe and inclusive offline and online learning spaces, and proposes a vision of how they can be mainstreamed and upscaled.

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