The University of Bologna is delivering best practices and educational activities recognised across Europe, aimed at fostering inclusion and valuing the linguistic and cultural skills of children with a migrant background. These results stem from NEW ABC (Networking the Educational World: Across Boundaries for Community-building), a project funded by the European Union and coordinated by Professor Rachele Antonini of the University of Bologna’s Department of Interpretation and Translation.
The solutions developed by the team were presented in Brussels during the event “10 Years of EU Migration Research and Innovation: Impacting Lives – Shaping the Future”, promoted by the European Commission to celebrate a decade of research and innovation in the field of migration. During the conference, Professor Antonini and Francesca Briccolani — a teacher at the Ambrogio Traversari primary school in Portico e San Benedetto (Valle del Montone Comprehensive Institute, Forlì-Cesena) — presented the results achieved, highlighting their significance within the European context.
The project represents a tangible example of synergy between university research and the local community. The Traversari primary school, a multilingual and multi-grade institute with several pupils of foreign origin, collaborated actively with the University in a shared process of study and action. This collaboration has yielded practices that are replicable in any European context.
Selected as a “success story” within the framework of EU-funded Horizon projects, NEW ABC stands out for its multidisciplinary and participatory approach, oriented towards the co-creation of innovative and transferable solutions. Its goal is to generate concrete and lasting change, strengthening educational, cultural, and social inclusion.
All the resources developed are available as open access on the official project platform . In addition, the team launched the NEW ABC Science Help Desk , which will ensure the active involvement of communities and educators in a collaborative research process even after the project’s conclusion.
“This ensures that our lessons and materials are available to support future work in inclusive education and are shared with other projects and community organisations,” says Professor Antonini.
