21-22 November, Warsaw

Bridging communities is always a challenge in a time of crisis. The one unfolding in Ukraine has had profound effects on the Republic of Poland. Almost two million people have crossed the border since February 2022, 960.000 of which are beneficiaries of temporary protection.

In response, Poland has enacted a Special legislation to assist Ukrainian citizens and grant them protection within its territory.

Under Article 31 of the Special Act, each refugee was allocated a single cash benefit worth PLN 300 to cover the cost of living – food, clothes, shoes, hygiene products and accommodation. Available data indicates that as of the 15 of November 2023, 1.294.814 people have received assistance. The total amount of these benefits is equivalent to approximately 90 million euro.

Complementary measures, activated with the support of official entities and non-governmental organizations, include the following areas:

• free health services, such as psychological assistance and medical assistance;
• social inclusion – active integration, emergency purchases from social economy entities;
• education – preschool, general and vocational education, facilitated by intercultural assistants. This area also includes Polish courses for Ukrainian refugees, Ukrainian courses for Polish teachers, teaching materials, and digital tools.
• labour market – professional placement, professional advice, training, internships, independent work. This area also includes places of care for children up to 3 years old;

During our permanence in Warsaw, we also visited two organizations providing support to vulnerable groups:

Punkt pod Parasolem (Food Bank), a non-governmental organization run by the SOS Food Bank in Warsaw and the Kuroniówka Foundation, providing food to children both and adults.

The Polish Women Can Do Everything Foundation, a non-profit organization helping children in difficult life situations. Activities include by supporting foster families, aiding day-care centres in smaller towns, and working to make children’s voices heard in legislation.

In addition to being a chance to experience the reality of the situation on the ground, these provided precious opportunities to interact with Ukrainian refugees, learn more about their day-to-day life in Poland, and their hopes and prospects for the future.

Hermínio Corrêa

On 20-21 November 2023, the BioBeo consortium gathered in Warsaw, Poland, to present ongoing developments and receive critical feedback from the Advisory Board. This pivotal meeting showcased the consortium’s collective progress in advancing bioeconomy education, a groundbreaking topic being integrated into school curricula across Europe. As key player in this initiative, Parents International emphasized the role of parental engagement and child participation in creating inclusive and effective educational frameworks.

The Warsaw Meeting: Strengthening Bioeconomy Education Frameworks

Aligned with the EU’s education policy priorities—such as sustainable development, inclusion, and open schooling—BioBeo aims to deliver a comprehensive educational programme applicable to all school levels. Beyond curriculum development, the initiative supports new governance and policy approaches that include meaningful participation from parents, students, educators, and other stakeholders. During the meeting, Parents International presented its ongoing work in the governance and policy work package, including efforts to foster shared leadership and decision-making at every governance level, from classrooms to European policy platforms. A training manual encapsulating these practices is set to be finalized by the end of 2023.

Collaborative Approaches to Parental Engagement and Child Participation

Recognizing the essential role of families and children in bioeconomy education, Parents International has developed tailored parental engagement and child participation elements for the BioBeo educational programme. These elements ensure that bioeconomy education is not just about knowledge transfer but also about creating a collaborative ecosystem that values contributions from all stakeholders.

To ensure effective implementation, the BioBeo consortium has organized targeted training sessions:

• In Maynooth, teachers from Ireland, the Netherlands, and Belgium will undergo comprehensive training to prepare for local programme delivery.
• In Germany, the University of Hohenheim and Ludwigsburg University, a leading teacher training institution, will collaborate on workshops tailored for educators.

These sessions are designed to empower educators with the knowledge and tools needed to incorporate bioeconomy concepts into their teaching, ensuring that the curriculum resonates with students and addresses contemporary societal challenges.

Looking Ahead: The BioBeo Festival and Awards

The consortium is also preparing to celebrate its progress through two major initiatives in 2024:

1. The BioBeo Festival, scheduled for 15 March 2024 in Brussels, will bring together educators, policymakers, and community members to showcase the potential of bioeconomy education in fostering sustainability and inclusion.
2. The BioBeo Awards will recognize outstanding contributions from schools, educators, and stakeholders who have excelled in promoting bioeconomy education and collaboration.

These events highlight BioBeo’s commitment to engaging the broader community and celebrating innovation in education. They serve as platforms to raise awareness, share best practices, and inspire further action toward embedding bioeconomy education into the fabric of European education systems.

The Annual Meeting of the PARTICIPATE Doctoral Network held at the campuses of Dublin City University on 14-16 November 2023 offered the first opportunity for all 10 Doctoral Candidates to meet for the first time. The event was combined with a review by the Research Executive Agency, the financing authority of the network that provided an opportunity also for the Project Officer to give advice to the partners, the supervisors and the Doctoral Candidates themselves.

10 brilliant and enthusiastic young professionals presented their research plans on topics related to parents’ role in relation to cyberbullying. The candidates, all of them women – similarly to all but one supervisors -, come from all over the world, from Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Russia and China. They are conducting research in doctoral programmes in Greece, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Finland, and one of them in a programme at Parents International.

In the coming 3 years, they will have plenty of opportunities to meet at winter and summer schools as well as network-wide trainings. The first such opportunities will be the winter school in Stavanger in February 2024 and an a 5-day training held at our premises in Amsterdam in March 2024.

Our own research fellow will work on the topical issue of bullying by teachers and parents, and the impact of this. It is a topic that we have planned to create more research evidence on for years given the research gap. The aim of this doctoral research project is also to develop a tool that will not be biased towards child-to-child bullying and thus will help schools to really explore the bullying situation in their institution, not just what is happening between children. We are also aiming to highlight that it is not only the bullied that are victims, but also bullies are usually holding traumas of being bullied.

On the 10th of November 2023, the International Parents Alliance (IPA) participated in an online event, “Data for Teaching and Learning in Schools: Trends and Issues.” This event provided a platform to bring parents’ perspectives to the forefront, particularly on the impact of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) in education. The focus was on understanding the implications of data-driven technologies in schools and exploring how these can be utilized to enhance learning while safeguarding students’ rights.

Earlier, in January 2023, the European Schoolnet launched an initiative centered on the use of big data and AI in educational settings. Co-funded by Erasmus+, this initiative, called the Agile EDU project, aimed to support schools in managing educational data more effectively. One of the highlights of this project was the European Dialogue Lab, a half-day online workshop that featured group discussions with policy actors, research associations, and civil society.

During this event, various stakeholders explored how AI and big data are shaping modern education. After presenting initial research, the organizers introduced a dialogue methodology that enabled interactive discussions. This workshop allowed participants to express their views and examine ways in which educational institutions can integrate big data and AI while respecting the rights of students and parents.

Challenges of Big Data in Schools

In the first discussion group, the conversation focused on key concepts such as ‘data’, ‘datafication’, and ‘data literacy’. Participants from different countries shared their experiences and practices. IPA emphasized that many schools lack the expertise and effort to provide clear, age-appropriate explanations for children and easy-to-understand consent forms for parents. It is crucial for parents and students to be fully aware of the type of data being collected in schools, as well as the purposes for which it is used.

Parents must be involved in discussions about big data usage in education, particularly when it comes to safeguarding their children’s data. European and international institutions can offer support by providing guidelines, training materials, and best practices that help schools communicate data policies more transparently. By offering such resources, schools would be able to meet their responsibilities more effectively, ensuring that families have a better understanding of the data collection process.

The group discussions concluded with the rapporteurs presenting their findings in a plenary session, where participants highlighted the need for international collaboration to standardize how big data is used in educational settings.

Strategic Planning for Data and AI in Schools

In the second group session, the focus shifted towards strategic planning at various levels, including schools, local authorities, and central governments. The key question was how to manage big data and AI in a way that benefits educational outcomes. Participants explored what kind of planning is needed for institutions to adapt to the increasing datafication of education.

IPA argued that strategic planning should involve all relevant stakeholders—students, parents, and teachers—from the earliest stages. Engaging these groups ensures that their perspectives are incorporated and that their agency is respected throughout the process. Only by involving the families and respecting their voices can schools utilize big data and AI as tools for improvement rather than exploitation.

Moreover, European and international actors were encouraged to provide guidance on creating a co-creation methodology for schools, fostering collaboration and inclusivity. Through such approaches, schools can develop a comprehensive, ethically sound strategy for incorporating big data and AI into the educational framework.

The event wrapped up with participants reiterating the importance of strategic, stakeholder-inclusive approaches to big data in education, as well as advocating for further collaboration between European institutions and educational entities.

Moving Forward with Big Data in Schools

IPA’s participation in the event reinforced the importance of giving students and families a significant role in educational decision-making. As an advocate for children’s rights, IPA will continue to push for the full implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in all educational matters.

The use of big data and AI in schools can present numerous opportunities for enhancing learning. However, without proper oversight and planning, it could also pose risks. IPA is committed to working with European Schoolnet and other international bodies to ensure that these technologies are used responsibly, always prioritizing the rights and well-being of students.

For two days, members of the five ESF+ (European Social Fund) Communities of Practice (CoPs) met in Brussels on 26-27 October 2023. Parents International, represented by Herminio Correa, member of the Sumervisory Board, participated in the CoP on Employment, Education and Skills.

The aim of the meeting was to:

– Build a common understanding of social innovation and social experimentation across European Member States.

– Identify synergies and cross-cutting topics among different Communities of Practice (CoPs) and remind them of the essential aim of the ESF+ Social Innovation+ Initiative: to scale up and transfer social innovations.

– Strengthen connections among different actors in the field of social innovation.

Two excellent presentations launched the discussion on the topic.

“What Would it Take to Tackle Today’s Societal Challenges” by Louis Vervloet from the ESF+ Managing Authority of Flanders, and

“Delivering on the Promises of Social Innovation” by Miquel de Paladella from UpSocial

followed by discussion panels with experts from different CoP’s.

As a complement to the program, each CoP held two workshops, to provide all participants the opportunity for practical and focused exploration of topics relevant to their respective CoPs, with the aim of promoting collaboration and idea generation within each thematic area, providing a tailored and immersive learning experience for participants.

Participants discussed their opinions and experiences on the challenges of cooperation between NGOs and public bodies (PES/municipalities) that work with integration into the labour market and training of vulnerable groups. They also discussed how to involve NGO’s in reaching out to vulnerable groups, how to finance NGO’s and monitor their work and how to decide which groups may benefit most from NGO’s services. In 2024, 54 new events are planned, 34 events of the CoPs & Networks and 20 events to support beneficiaries of EU level calls for proposal.

On the 16^th, 17^th and 18th of October, we had our pilot training for the Parents Engage project in the beautifully multicultural Palermo, Italy. It was an excellent opportunity to try out the teacher training handbook for the engagement of migrant families in school. With 23 participants from Lithuania, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Turkey, and Germany, we had a very intense three days of testing the materials developed by the project consortium. Considering the valuable feedback received, the handbook will be finalized in the coming days and made available to everyone in English, Dutch, Italian, Greek, Turkish, and German on the project website: https://parentsengage.eu/

Sometimes, schools struggle to find ways to support families with a migrant background meaningfully; most initial teacher training does not satisfactorily cover this topic, so we are glad to be able to offer this handbook to all teachers. This child- and parent-right-informed material provides theoretical background, practical suggestions, and self-reflection exercises for trainees. The training will be piloted by the consortium partners also in the local setting, in the local language, with the involvement of participants from the international pilot in Greece, Germany, Cyprus, Turkey, and Italy.