How refugee children and young people enrich our schools

A Monday morning at the vocational, technical and further education school (BFF) in Bern. The young immigrants are part of a bridging programme - one to two years between regular school and vocational training. They are currently having German lessons, but because a journalist is a guest, everyone is allowed to introduce themselves first.
In addition to Nuur from Somalia, there is Abdulqadir, also from Somalia, Rahel from Eritrea, Neslihan from Turkey, Yanik from Spain and Roshan from Sri Lanka. They have all been in Switzerland for one to three years and are between 16 and 18 years old. They want to become car mechanics, cooks, IT specialists, roofers, carers for the elderly and doctors. There are actually 16 students, but the class is halved for six lessons a week so that they can learn German more intensively.
Today it's all about «then and now». German teacher Daniel Graf contrasts the time without computers and smartphones with the present day. «Where would you rather have lived?» he asks Neslihan. «I would have preferred to live earlier because I like being in nature and there's hardly any space for that in the cities today,» says the Turkish girl. She speaks German very well, even though she has only lived in Switzerland for a year and a half. She did a pre-apprenticeship as a pharmaceutical assistant and would like to study medicine later. «It's not impossible, but it's a very long road,» says Graf.

Cook, roofer, doctor - the young refugees' career aspirations are as varied as they are ambitious.

Anyone who sits in a classroom and follows the lessons gets this impression of motivated and committed pupils.
However, if you talk to teachers for longer, you will hear the other side of the immigration debate. «We've been run over.» «We don't know what to do.» That's how it sounds from many teachers' rooms across the country.
Suddenly the refugees are here - and nobody is prepared. There are too few teachers, no resources for German lessons or not enough money for leisure activities. Nobody has a curriculum for integrating the new arrivals, and many people are wondering what exactly integration means. Everyone involved is confronted with a new situation: Teachers don't know exactly how to deal with the traumatised pupils. Parents are worried that the standard in the classes is dropping.

Integration takes time. But the immigrants are in the classrooms now. We need to get to work quickly!

According to estimates, around 10,000 underage refugees, 3,000 of whom were of school age, travelled to Switzerland in 2015. By comparison, this is 45 per cent more than in 2014, a development that is fuelling many fears and prejudices in society. At the same time, however, it is also a huge opportunity for the entire education system and all participants, because schools must and will change. Not only in favour of immigrants, but also in favour of all Swiss people.
We must all finally scrutinise the quality, meaningfulness and design of the education system, but above all the schools and their curricula. This is the only place where the foundations are laid for a later working life and thus the long-term integration of all immigrants. Their success is crucial. Projects and initiatives must be developed, and business - i.e. training companies - and schools must work better together. And this will not only benefit the refugees. However, this takes time and we can't wait that long because the immigrants are now in the classroom. We need to get to work now! We will all get to know new people and foreign cultures.

Teachers, but also pupils who have grown up in Switzerland, will deal with the consequences of war and expulsion in the classroom and perhaps also realise in their free time how important a functioning democracy and a life in freedom and peace are.
Xenophobia, resentment and intolerance are no longer latent vibrations, but will be discussed in class, at the regulars' table, in parliament and in the media. Everyone - from first-graders to members of the Federal Council - can only benefit from this.
Back at the vocational, technical and further education school in Bern. The BFF has twelve classes in its bridging programme. A few years ago there were only six. «Pupils from Eritrea make up the largest proportion,» says the class teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous, in a conversation after class. Around 30 per cent. Previously, the classes were very mixed, from family reunification to diplomats' sons receiving German lessons.
Recently, they have been joined mainly by Afghan and Syrian refugees. Although immigration and integration have long been part of Switzerland's culture and educational history, teachers are facing new problems here too. The biggest of these is the high proportion of unaccompanied refugee minors.

Some refugees had been travelling alone for months, often for years.

In the canton of Bern alone, the number has risen from 100 to 500 since 2015. «They have been travelling alone for months, sometimes even years,» says the class teacher. They find it very difficult to suddenly subordinate themselves to an authority figure again. They also have to relearn social skills such as punctuality. «They were on their own for a long time, and suddenly there's someone in whose care they are again. Some minors take a long time to get used to it,» says the class teacher. Nevertheless, they are still children.
The administrative part has also changed: «You're always in contact with lots of different institutions, no longer with the parents.»

Even later, the conditions in the social and administrative environment of the immigrant young people extend far into everyday school life. «First they are accommodated in reception centres, and when they come of age, they are suddenly on their own again,» says the class teacher.
She talks about a pupil who, from one day to the next, was living in a shared flat with two other refugees. The pupil asked her for advice when he lost his key. «It took me a while to realise that it wasn't the key to his flat, but the key to his room.»
The idea that the pupil locked his room when he left the flat worried her. That's why school should not only pave the way for young people into working life, but above all be a safe space. Most teachers agree on this.
The pupils who take advantage of the bridging programmes are between 16 and 22 years old, which is a «good age», says the teacher, as most of them understand that they can now start a new life. This motivates them not only to learn, but also to integrate. And we, society as a whole, should encourage that.

More on the topic:

There are already some good support programmes in this country that are designed to give young migrants better access to our education system. One of them is called ChagALL, presented in our report.