In December 2020, the Healing Classroomsproject „BuildUp - promoting resilience and psychosocial support for young immigrants in pre-vocational training“ in North Rhine-Westphalia. The regional specialists quickly turned out to be enthusiastic Healing Classrooms-partners, who, thanks to numerous previous Healing Classrooms-events had already formed a reliable and committed network. On this fertile ground, new collaborations are constantly emerging, one of which we would like to present to you today:
The Hamm Municipal Integration Center (KI) has been a partner of our „BuildUp“ project since March 2021. The kick-off event in a small online group quickly turned into a cooperation agreement for a joint training series - but that was not enough: Driven by the desire to anchor resilience promotion in the municipality's schools in the long term and to promote the Healing ClassroomsIn order to make this approach accessible to as many educators as possible, the idea for a follow-up series for multipliers in the region was born. The KI Hamm's calendar of events also includes the Healing Classrooms The online symposium „Reducing discrimination - recognizing potential - promoting talent: strengthening young people with migration and refugee experience in accessing the training and job market“ on 27 May 2021 gave participants from all over NRW the opportunity to learn about the two pillars of resilience promotion in a workshop; another event is planned for autumn 2021 as part of the „Hamm Education Week“. With commitment, sensitivity and the art of planning, KI Hamm creates spaces for reflection, focuses on the well-being of students and professionals alike and motivates them to continue their education.
Sven Rolfs, senior teacher and employee of KI Hamm, was the driving force behind the collaboration from the very beginning. In this interview, he explains how the collaboration came about and why promoting resilience is important to him.
Not all federal states have municipal integration centers. Could you briefly explain to our network what tasks the KI Hamm performs in supporting children and young people with refugee experience?
The task of the KI is to support schools and other institutions in their work with immigrant families and thus promote their integration. In this context, for example, newly immigrated families in Hamm receive advice on the German school system and educational opportunities for their children and are helped to find school places. The KI also supports schools with „language mediators“ as translators for parents„ evenings and discussions with parents. Just this year, we were able to win two elementary school for the “Rucksack Schule„ program, which aims to support the work of parents in schools. We also support the “Schools without Racism" network in Hamm and organize training courses and specialist days for teachers and educational staff on the topics of intercultural competence, criticism of racism and German as a second language.
How did you come across the Healing Classrooms-offer?
The tip-off about the offer came from the AI network. A neighboring AI had forwarded the information to us and it immediately met with great interest. I then contacted the IRC officer responsible and found the communication to be reliable, uncomplicated and very productive.
Why do you think promoting resilience is an important topic for educational professionals? Is it particularly relevant locally?
I believe that promoting resilience is fundamentally important for all children and young people with and without a migrant background. However, I also know from my own experience and from specialist literature that living in a foreign country with a foreign culture and language can cause considerable stress and can also hold many discouraging experiences in store. For many immigrants, life in Germany means a devaluation of their professional and educational qualifications and thus also of an important part of their personality. Experiences of discrimination are often added to this. This creates negative feelings among parents, which can also be transferred to the children and significantly slow down their motivation to learn. I don't think that the topic is any less relevant in other places than in Hamm, but all of Hamm's schools have a significant proportion of immigrant pupils, which is why I think the topic is important for our city.
What has been the feedback from the Hammer specialists contacted so far?
Especially for the support of teachers who teach migrant students, I feel that the Healing Classrooms as a great offer. We have taken the approach of Healing Classrooms at a specialist day and received very positive feedback from the participants. Many have registered for the training course, which will take place in Hamm this fall.
What do you hope for the future of the Healing Classrooms in Hamm?
I hope that we will be able to build on the training with a hammer Healing Classrooms-network, which will lead to an even stronger exchange between KI and the schools/professionals involved, so that we can further develop our work to support the schools, and therefore the children.
If you are interested and/or have questions about Healing Classrooms in North Rhine-Westphalia, please contact Laura Resaei, Education Officer NRW, at laura.resaei@rescue.org !
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