Background:

On 3 December 2024, the Office for Language Learning and Citizenship of the sub-directorate for the integration of foreign nationals (within the French Ministry of the Interior) organised a national seminar on “Opening schools to parents for children’s success (OEPRE)” programme, which has been co-piloted since 2008 by the Directorate for Integration and Access to Nationality within the Ministry of the Interior and the Directorate General for school education (DGESCO) within the Ministry of Education and Youth to enable allophone parents to improve their knowledge of French, to learn about the values of the French Republic and to gain a better understanding of how schools work so that they can provide better support for their children’s education.

During the seminar, time was set aside to look at what is being done in other EU Member States to support non-French-speaking parents to help their children succeed at school. In this context, EMN France asked EMN Member and Observer Countries information regarding existing related programmes in their countries.

Respondents:

22 EMN Member and Observer Countries (including BE) provided a public answer to this ad hoc query.

Findings:

A preliminary analysis of the results of the ad hoc query shows that:

• At least four countries report having national initiatives that are very similar to the French OEPRE programmes. In BE, for example, the administration of the French Community in Brussels (Commission communautaire française – COCOF) finances the organisation of “workshops on parenting in schools” (ateliers parentalité scolaire), which are delivered by the non-profit organisation Proforal. In some countries like AT and LU, these initiatives are embedded in the general integration measures for foreigners, in which parents can opt for additional support with navigating their children’s schooling system. FI reports projects that go even further than workshops or courses: parents are directly involved in their children’s early schooling by attending their classes or participating in school activities. These daily interactions with the school help them meet other parents, practice Finnish in a school context and better understand the school structure and functioning.
   
• The French OEPRE programmes focus on language acquisition, value transmission, and understanding the functioning and expectations of schools, with the ultimate goal of helping allophone parents integrate into the host country and support their children’s academic success. In BE, the workshops on parenting in schools aim to support allophone parents towards more autonomy and agency in their children’s schooling. Although they have a linguistic component to them, the primary goal is not language acquisition or value transmission, but rather to help parents navigate the schooling system of their children in order to support their academic success. In other countries, such as CY, language acquisition is the primary goal of these initiatives.
   
• Other countries report having initiatives that aim to support parents in their children’s academic success, but in much more targeted settings. For example, in the context of temporary protection, BG organised information campaigns to help Ukrainian parents enrol their children in local schools. Similarly, in EL and RS, initiatives also targeted refugee children and their parents, through information sessions to explain the education system, its expectations towards students, and the responsibilities of parents, either in the schools (EL) or even in asylum centres directly (RS).

For further details, please read the compilation of answers attached above.