Introduction  Multiculturalism, linguistic and cultural diversity, integration of migrants in the host countries, inter-culturalism, inclusion and assimilation have been the predominant themes of intellectual, social and educational discourse for the past decades in Europe. Education systems have largely been reactive towards the challenges that emerged due to increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in schools therefore, the steps taken do not measure up to the actual needs. Intercultural community-based evaluation and planning is a multidimensional concept that encompasses inter-culturalism, inter-agency collaboration or community networking for planning, implementing and evaluating endeavours that promote intercultural understanding in schools. This presentation will explore the origins, implementation, possibilities and challenges of adopting and adapting an Intercultural Community Evaluation and Planning (ICCEP) approach to educational provision within Europe and beyond.  European Dimension  The presentation draws on European Union-funded ICCEP project that examined the scope for community-based collaborations’ planning, implementation and evaluation by mapping out the policies and practices that support or hinder ICCEP in five European countries, Austria, Ireland, Norway, Spain and Turkey. The presentation also aims to explore the existing practices of Educational networks in these countries. Background and argument  The consistent influx of migrants and refugees in Europe and further afield has made the host societies multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual. This has led to the emergence of a policy discourse that has been driven by concepts such as multiculturalism, linguistic and cultural diversity, integration of migrants in the host countries, inter-culturalism, inclusion and assimilation (REF). This policy discourse has existed in parallel with a reality that has seen the nature of society change in many if not all European countries.  Indeed, in the project countries represented here, there has been a dramatic social diversification with, for example, 12% of the overall population of school-going children (<15 years) in Ireland, 8.2% in Austria, 7.7% in Norway and 4.6% in Spain coming from a migration background (Eurydice, 2019).  With this diversification have risen new social complexities which are posing significant challenges for both policymakers and leaders at all levels (Vertovec, 2007). On area that has been particularly impacted is education. Arguably, education is the foundation for successful participation in society and one of the most powerful tools for building more inclusive societies (European Commission, 2020, p.8). The reality is, however, that school environments have never been as diverse as they are now with an increasing proportion of students whose first language is different from the language of instruction. Many of the outcomes associated with this have been negative. At a broad level, scholars such as De Paola & Brunello, (2016) suggest that the potential of migrant children is not understood, is undervalued and not supported and developed. In practice this means, for example, that the percentage of early school leavers is significantly higher among migration background students in most European countries than native students (Eurydice, 2019). Indeed, at a macro level the OECD (2018) suggests that second-generation migrant students are systematically disadvantaged as against their native peers across EU countries.  This presentation argues that at the heart of the educational challenge involves the development quality assurance and educational governance processes that support equity and inclusion in networked school communities of heterogenous backgrounds. This is not an argument for ‘migrant integration’ as if it was the migrants that had to do something right to successfully integrate, rather aiming to conceptualise the processes as the transformation of the whole local community with the goal of equity and inclusion of all members. This reconceptualization lies at the heart of ICCEP.  

The ICCEP project is based on an extensive literature review and document analysis that drew on policy documents, legislation, academic literature and other documentation associated with the integration of migration/minority students. In deciding the documentary sources, the selection criteria of authenticity, credibility, representativeness, and meaning are strictly adhered to (Fitzgerald, 2007). The first round of analysis, focused on the supports for ICCEP through the analysis of national and transnational policies and practices. The second round mapped out the existing educational networks and school clustering with regards to how are they initiated, planned, implemented, monitored, and evaluated. Following on from this each partner country prepared an ICCEP Profile for their country which was later collated as a combined report. This provided the foundation for the conceptualisation of ICCEP as an idea which was then used to create a Framework for Intercultural Community Evaluation and Planning (Brown et al, 2022). This evaluation framework sought to bring together all the variables affecting efficacy of educational networks, elements of effective intercultural education and competencies of effective leadership in collaborative networks for measuring the impact or success of education networks. Through this framework all these indicators were assembled together to provide an instrument to school leaders who can employ these quality indicators to self-evaluate their practices, and external evaluators and administrators who oversee network functions to measure a network’s performance, form quality judgements and make changes in the network design in the light of their findings.

The conceptualisation of ICCEP that emphasises the use of networks of heterogenous schools supported by the evaluation framework developed by the project is a key outcome here. The project found that for the effective development of inclusion, it is not possible for schools to work in isolation but requires the support of the local community, parents and families and networks of professionals ( Ainscow, 2020), Brown et al. (2020). School leaders are looking for new approaches to meet the needs of all cohorts of students and instead of relying on centralised structures, they are open to engaging with local educational networks in real time. ICCEP further argues that engaging parents, families and communities in education, positively influences students’ learning and achievement (Bryk,2010; Povey et al., 2016). At individual country level the presentation shows a wide range of practices. Norway provides exclusive funding to the municipalities to support and meet the learning needs of migrant children, enabling them to (eventually) join mainstream classes. Austria, Ireland, Spain and Turkey integrate these children into mainstream schooling immediately. Spain, Austria, Ireland and Norway have some precedents of educational networking and community-based clusters where different agencies have collaborated to encourage inclusivity in schools etc. However, networks – other than Irish ‘Leadership Clusters’ - are mostly voluntary. . Ultimately there is a continuing notion among governments and policy makers that schools, teachers and parents acting alone can or in ‘clusters’ or ‘networks’ can solve problems that exist on a wide societal scale, is striking. Major systems-wide radical initiatives in curriculum and assessment, teacher selection, etc are avoided for many reasons, including cost and the rising tide of an – immigrant feeling. Instead, these worthwhile but deeply limited policies multiply and it is left to schools, alone or in small groups to do their best.

Ainscow, M., 2020. Promoting inclusion and equity in education: lessons from international experiences. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 6(1), pp.7-16. Brown et al (2022). Evaluation Framework for Intercultural Community Evaluation and Planning in Schools. Bryk, A.S., 2010. Organizing schools for improvement. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(7), pp.23-30. De Paola, M., & Brunello, G. (2016). Education as a Tool for the Economic Integration of Migrants. IZA Discussion Paper No. 9836, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2757926 European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice. (2019). Integrating Students from Migrant Backgrounds into Schools in Europe: National Policies and Measures. Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Ministerio de Educación. (2011). OVERCOMING SCHOOL FAILURE: POLICIES THAT WORK, SPANISH NATIONAL REPORT Mayo - OECD. Ministry of Education and Research. (2003). Language Education Policy Profile. Oslo, Norway: Ministry of Education and Research. Ministry of Education and Research. (2016). Regulations Relating to the Framework Plan for Primary and Lower Secondary Teacher Education for Years 1–7. Oslo, Norway: Ministry of Education and Research. Ministry of National Education (MoNE). (2016). The Road Map for the education of Syrian Children is Created, Turkish Ministry of Education, http://www.meb.gov.tr/suriyeli-cocuklarin-egitimi-icin-yol-haritasi-belirlendi/heber/11750/tr Ministry of National Education (MoNE). (2021). Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Hayat Boyu Öğrenme Genel Müdürlüğü Göç ve Acil Durum Eğitim Daire Başkanlığı Geçici Koruma Altındaki Çocuklara İlişkin Raporu. http://hbogm.meb.gov.tr/meb_iys_dosyalar/2021_01/27122650_ocak_2021.pdf O'Hara, J., Brown, M., McNamara, G., & Shevlin, P. (2020). The potential, limitations and evaluation of education networks in a monocentric system. Revista de Investigación Educativa 38, no. 1, 33-52. Onal, R. & Yavuz, F. (2017). Religious education and multiculturalism in Norwegian curriculum. Global Journal of Sociology. 7(1),63-68. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2018). Framework for global competencies. Accessed from https://www.oecd.org/education/Global-competency-for-an-inclusive-world.pdf Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2019). PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Students Can Succeed. Paris: OECD. Povey, J., Campbell, A.K., Willis, L.D., Haynes, M., Western, M., Bennett, S., Antrobus, E. and Pedde, C., 2016. Engaging parents in schools and building parent-school partnerships: The role of school and parent organisation leadership. International Journal of Educational Research, 79, pp.128-141. Vertovec, S., 2007. Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and racial studies, 30(6), pp.1024-1054.