The School of Education was delighted to host a series of learning conversations based on the KINDINMI project on 14 September.
The KINDINMI project is a collaborative and comparative research project concerning the inclusion of young migrants aged 6 months to 7 years in kindergarten/preschool education as a means to encouraging better opportunities for them as well as their families for social orientation and inclusion in the host country.
Staff from the School of Education are working with researchers from Austria, Sweden and the Czech Republic to:
- Develop a pedagogical toolkit which can be accessed by practitioners in all partner countries and which will support practice in the inclusion of migrant children
- Develop an agreed curriculum in supporting migrant children and families which can be shared across all partner and used as the basis for course content in individual partner countries
Guest speakers Dr Thomas Bak, Lucinda Geoghegan and Alison Forbes led the day with presentations from current BA Childhood Practice and Early Years students. Dr Bak, who researches the impact of multilingualism on cognitive functions across the whole lifespan and in brain diseases such as dementia and stroke, noted the contagious enthusiasm of the delegates on the day. Tweeting after the event, Dr Bak noted the “great examples of appreciation and support for multilingual children in the nurseries. And the importance of encouraging children’s natural curiosity and problem solving. Multilingualism as an opportunity and not a burden”.
Following on from this highly successful day, the team hope to run KINDINMI Learning Conversations in partnership with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) in June 2020.