The European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC) has published a policy memo on approaches to education for unaccompanied migrant children in Europe.

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This memo is the third in a series of short policy memos aimed at policymakers, researchers and practitioners and focusing on topics relevant to child welfare.

The importance of access to education for unaccompanied migrant children

In 2017, 650,000 people applied for asylum in the EU, of which 31% were minors. Of these minors, 13% were unaccompanied by a caregiver.

Access to education is a fundamental right. The importance of migrant children’s access to education has been recognised by national and international governments. Hence, there are a variety of legal and policy frameworks applied at international, national and local levels in support of migrant children’s access to education (including unaccompanied minors).

However, despite these legal and policy provisions, access to both formal and non-formal education remains a challenge for many unaccompanied migrant children.

This EPIC policy memo, Education for unaccompanied migrant children in Europe, provides a brief overview of the national and school-level approaches to the inclusion of unaccompanied migrant children in Member State education systems.

Examples of five types of approach are presented in the memo:

1. approaches which focus on teachers and teaching;
2. access to the mainstream education system;
3. preparatory classes for host country language learning;
4. initiatives to support faster integration in the host society;
5. approaches which focus on informal education.

EPIC supports Member States to invest in children

This memo is the third in a series of short policy memos aimed at policymakers, researchers and practitioners and focusing on topics relevant to child welfare. Other policy memos in this series cover:

• the use of EU funding mechanisms to invest in children,
• paternity and parental leave entitlements across Europe and
• the effective implementation of evidence-based practices and programmes to support child and family wellbeing.

EPIC also provides a wide range of content focused on tackling childhood disadvantage, including a collection of evidence-based practices from across Member State and country profiles, available in English, French and German, which provide an overview of measures taken in each Member State to support investment in children.

This news item was written for the European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC).