MELT: Migrant Parents’ Participation and Engagement
Migrant Parents’ Participation in School
Project at a Glance
Project Description
Parental participation in educational processes is crucial for the academic success and social inclusion of children from families with a migration background and can help reduce educational inequalities. However, cooperation between migrant parents and schools is often challenging.
The MELT research consortium addresses the question of how schools can strengthen the participation of parents with a migration background in educational processes. The project aims to (1) broaden and deepen the knowledge base on parental participation in schools and (2) identify, develop, and test innovative and effective transfer measures to enhance parent–school cooperation and parental involvement in education.
The project is carried out through a partnership between academia and practice, bringing together the Berlin Institute for Empirical Integration and Migration Research (BIM) and the Federal Parent Network of Migrant Organizations for Education and Participation (bbt).
Using a multimethod research design that includes document analysis, interviews, and a survey study, the project examines the perspectives of parents with diverse backgrounds and circumstances, the perspectives of schools, the alignment between these perspectives, and the conditions that foster successful cooperation between parents and schools. Based on these findings, model transfer projects designed and implemented by member organizations of the bbt will be selected and evaluated by BIM. In this way, the project generates practice-oriented knowledge that contributes to a more diversity-sensitive educational system.
The findings will be prepared for different target groups—including families, schools, educational administrations, and the academic community—and disseminated and discussed through a variety of transfer formats. The MELT-Transfer subproject (bbt) focuses on generating practical knowledge, developing quality standards, piloting transfer projects, and transferring the findings into educational practice.
Sponsors
The project “Meta-project Migration, Integration, and Participation in Education” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth and the European Union through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus) as part of the “Integration through Education” program.
