Presentation at New Education Forum in European Parliament, Brussels (17 November 2016). Looking at educational integration, migration and integration of refugees.

1. Inclusive Learning in a Time of Crisis:
disruptive migrations and pedagogies of
integration and rights
Dr. Alan Bruce
ULS Dublin
New Education Forum
Brussels, 17 November 2016

2. A time of questions
• What is really going on in our world?
• What will an uncertain future bring?
• Where does education end?
• What is the new labour market?
• What are we learning?
• How are we learning it?
• Why are we learning it?
• What do we value……..?

3. 1. Educational change contexts
• Contours of pervasive change
• Crisis, challenge and the impact of growing
inequality
• Education and learning in a transformed
world
• Innovation and technology
• Globalization
• Embedding learning excellence with
uncertain employment outcomes

4. Anticipating the future (OECD
1994)
Future learning and employment needs (Jobs
Study)
•Policy change
•Flexibility
•Entrepreneurship
•Internationalization
•Technology

5. The future is now…
• Potential provision of universal schooling now
realized
• Internationalization is the norm
• Technology pervasive but unevenly accessible
• ‘Flexibility’: weapon or tool?
• Entrepreneurship: what is it?
• Policy: shaping or copying?
• Permanent crisis?

6. Defining directions
• Adaptability
• Innovation
• Leadership
• System change
• Intercultural imperatives
• ‘The chemistry of widespread improvement’
(Michael Fullan)

7. Change dynamics
• Sustained and systemic
• Accelerating
• Multidimensional and simultaneous
• Structural incapacity to incorporate required
modifications and adjustments
• Deep uncertainty in terms of future options
• Unprecedented levels of challenge
• Migration as threat or opportunity

8. Innovative sustainable education
• Learner centered
• Competence driven
• Community focused – changed
communities!
• Pervasive technological presence
• Internationally grounded
• Collaborative learning processes
• Curiosity and critical reflection

9. 2. Impact of socio-economic crisis
• Globalization – accelerating and pervasive
• Crisis and re-structuring since 2008
• Stratification and inequity – issue of social justice
• Labor market transformation
• Issues on inclusion – token or real?
• Integration, assimilation or denial?
• Understanding new diversities
• Access, quality and innovation in education
• Generational demographics

10. A Transformed World
• End of old certainties
• No return to ‘normal’
• Population disruptions
• Planet of Slums (Mike Davis): hypercities of the future
• Informal economies
• Constant connectedness and information explosion

11. Refugee realities

12. Crisis since 2008
• Seismic shift in human relationships
• Refugee arrivals in EU in 2015: 1,3 million
• Children under 14: 140,000.
• Between 14-17: 62,000
• 2016: 340,000 by sea – 6,000 drowned
• Majority from Syria
• Growth of resistance and xenophobia

13. Reality on our doorstep

14. The bottom line…
An assumption of stable work patterns and linear
economic development is no longer possible
Learning systems must innovate and respond
accordingly

15. Supporting learning for refugees
• Focus on motivation
• Acknowledging trauma and loss
• From curriculum to competence
• Content to meaningful action
• From formal teaching to creation of bonds and
links and hope
• Mentoring
• Models of best practice

16. Responding to change
• Flexibility: non-traditional learning for non-standard
groups
• Diverse learners and traumatic pasts
• Learning outcomes and hopelessness
• Pedagogical design - integrated learning
• Teacher training
• Spaces of Hope – Lesvos. Early childhood learning

17. 3. Global citizenship for global
learning
• Engaging with diverse communities
• Developing massive outreach to sectors
• Outreach, access and validation
• Legislative foundations on rights and anti-
discrimination
• New technologies – mobile telephony
• Implementation of diversity practice and
intercultural competence

18. Global Citizenship
• Fostering inclusion in contradictory socio-economic environment problematic
• Scale of economic disruption reflected in wars, genocide, ethnic cleansing, health
issues and extraordinary movements of people either as economic migrants or
refugees – now permanent and accelerating dimension of globalized life
• Global Citizenship - Global Education First Initiative (2012).
Education must fully assume its central role in helping people to forge more
just, peaceful, tolerant and inclusive societies. It must give people the
understanding, skills and values they need to cooperate in resolving the
interconnected challenges of the 21st century.
• Citizenship reformulated in terms of rights and obligations and potentially new
forms of post-national citizenship.

19. Inclusive global citizenship in
learning systems
• Changes produced in human and technical aspects of the
globalization process shape how global education addresses various
learning communities previously excluded by reason of prejudice,
discrimination or remoteness.
• Critical importance of innovation and vision as key priorities to
develop learning to combat socio-economic marginalization.
• Pervasive globalizing process means intercultural learning strategy
needs parallel international understanding of how cultural diversity
impacts learning needs of populations subjected to unprecedented
levels of change.

20. Anticipating the future
• Excellence goes beyond mechanical quality
measurement systems
• Critical role of diversity and equality approaches
• Gender and inclusion – the centrality of women
• Demographics and youth intervention
• Competitiveness and sustainability
• Education as business or a place apart?
• Offering critical space and alternative
perspectives

21. Future directions
• Training of trainers and teachers
• Multilingualism: shared learning
• Developing skills – competence transmission
• Developing attitudes – securing motivation
• Developing buy-in – loyalty and commitment
• Active inclusion strategies
• Risk taking and the poison of racism
• Review, evaluation and research

22. Conclusions
• Education at a crossroads: refugee crisis highlights
options
• ‘Progression model’ challenged
• Impact of increasing inequality: access and resources
• Crisis as the norm: refugee crisis is not the end
• Performance, standards, quality, reproducibility and
added value at the heart of competence: but context
equally crucial
• Disruptive narratives demand policy and shared goals
• Innovative learning demands imagination and vision

23. Thank you
Dr. Alan Bruce
ULS Dublin
abruce@ulsystems.com
Associate Offices: BARCELONA - HELSINKI - SÃO PAULO - CHICAGO