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Family, school, teachers.and community: investing together in social capital.The case of Lucerna schools in Flanders

Prof. Ides Nicaise (University of Leuven)assisted by Charlotte Vandooren & Famke De Clercq

The challenge

• Students from Turkish origin in Flanders…– perform substantially below average– have relatively poor command of Dutch– are severely under-represented in general and

higher education• The Flemish education system is characterised by…

– extreme competition => selectivity and segregation– early tracking (age 12)– assimilationist climate (‘Dutch first’)

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Vicious circles…

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The social capital of schools

Schools with disadvantaged students get educational priority funding, and yet often have less resources:– Private infrastructure– Financial, social and cultural resources of parents /

alumni– Teachers: quasi-market mechanisms result in ‘Mathew

effect’, with teachers competing for the ‘easier’ schools (monolingual, close to home, high-SES etc.) => de facto inequalities in human resources

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Lucerna’s response: building on the ethnic capital of the Turkish-Belgian community

• Leadership from 2nd generation of immigrants

• Financial support from Turkish entrepreneurs

• Commitment of teachers (extra-curricular activities, team teaching, individual tutoring, home visits…)

• Parents (partnership, voluntary work, sponsoring…)

• Peer mentoring by successful students

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Extended school strategy

Supplementing the material, human, social and cultural capital of families– Dutch language development: summer camps, essay

contests…– Multidimensional education (sports, arts, health, Ipad

class…)– Link between curricular and extra-curricular

activities / between formal and informal learning (science clubs, inter-school contests…)

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A culture-sensitive community school

• Free choice of religious / moral education• Building on values and attitudes of immigrant community

(generosity towards community, nurturing excellence, gender sensitivity…)

• Partnership between school, parents and local community

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Achievements

(note: Lucerna schools started in 2003 => too early to measure full impact)

• Majority of students remain in general education• Performance > Turkish students in other schools gap

with average Flemish students has not yet been closed• Parents’ involvement and teachers’ commitment have

strongly increased• Transition into / success rate in higher education are

gradually improving

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Points of attention

• Achieving a diverse ethnic and social composition of student population => magnet school concept

• Interfaith dialogue– Dissemination of modern, open image of Islam in

islamophobic environment– Active dialogue between students with different

religious / philosophical background => potentially very attractive for native students

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Related initiatives

Of Turkish community• Olympiad associations• Parents’ associations• Early childhood project• Youth clubs• Tutoring, homework classes,

intercultural mediation• Career guidance & social activities for

HE students• Adult education projects

Of other immigrant communities• Early childhood (e.g. Eerste Stappen)• Homework classes (IQRA , Mariam,

buddy project Leuven…)• Parenting support (IC, AIF…)• Peer mentoring• Literacy / mother tongue courses (Arthis,

GROVG…)• Intercultural mediation, anti-

discrimination actions (Selam, FMV…)• Representation, political action (Flemish

Minorities Forum )

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Conclusion: civil society as a triple bridge

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Between families and education

Between families and education Between

communitiesBetween

communitiesBetween citizens and governmentBetween citizens and government

This role deserves to be recognised and subsidised