In Germany, the first National Integration Summit under the leadership of Angela Merkel in 2006 and the resulting National Integration Plan (NIP) represent the most important integration policy signal of recent decades. For the first time, Germany acknowledged and defined itself as a country of immigration and integration was described as a national task for society as a whole. We have to keep in mind, this was the political commitment of a conservative government, which thus only acknowledged an empirical reality that had existed for decades. The NIP describes the achievements, but above all openly describes the deficits in German integration policy.[1]  The education system is the best place to trace how Germany is developing from a denied immigration reality - "guest workers" - to a country of immigration and ultimately to a country of immigration.

[1] See Nationaler Integrationsplan – neue Wege – Neue Chancen, Hrsg. Bundesregierung, Berlin 2007

The Academia Española de Formación - Spanische Weiterbildungsakademie e.V. (AEF) was founded in 1984 in the context of the Spanish "guest worker migration" as a reaction to the lack of suitable educational opportunities for migrants and their support in self-organization and social participation. Since 1985, the AEF has been a state-recognized further education institution. It should be emphasized that the AEF is the first cultural project of an intercultural educational institution founded by migrants with state recognition in Germany. Through its intercultural education work, the AEF is known and recognized nationwide for its socio-political education work, both in professional circles and among other migrant communities with which it maintains diverse forms of cooperation. The AEF is a cooperating member of the German Red Cross - DRK-LV-Nordrhein.

In addition, the AEF is a recognized provider of integration courses, i.e. German courses, (provider no. 15243-NW) with course locations in Bonn, Troisdorf, Hornberg and Nürnberg. 

In the first years after its founding, the AEF's educational work focused primarily on the Spanish-speaking community. Through intensive networking, institutional contacts were established and the AEF was also perceived as a competent contact in municipalities, associations and research. New perspectives in educational work developed from this, such as the “Bocholt Forum for Migration Issues” with the State Centre for Political Education in North Rhine-Westphalia.

One of the institutionally far-reaching cooperations came into being in 1991 when the AEF was asked by the (then) Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) to take on the role of a central office as a migrant organization in order to specifically attract Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking migrant women and other migrant organizations to the program of "low-threshold seminar measures for foreign women (women's courses)", the forerunner of the current "MiA courses".  In this function as a central office, the AEF still acts as a service provider for German ministries and authorities. Since 2004, this has been the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which is responsible for migration.

These "women's courses" enabled the AEF to directly strengthen the role of women and mothers in the associations. Above all, through the training of the course leaders, it became possible to deepen and disseminate educational topics, information about the school and professional system, parental participation at school and much more nationwide. This support program was opened to women from third countries for the first time in 1998. For the AEF as an educational institution and migrant organization, this opened up access to other migrant communities with whom German organizations and associations had difficulties to establish contacts.

At the same time, the proven educational shortage and the problems in integrating migrant children became more and more evident, rapidly increasing the need for action and assistance concepts. The concept of leaving the responsibility for integration and school success to the migrants themselves had simply failed and led to additional social costs, i.e. loss of human capital, which could not be justified.[1]    

In the meantime, the AEF was able to consolidate its reputation in professional circles and in the migrant communities as a competent educational institution and as a model, among other things with the LEONARDO project IMPUSO (2000-2001) for bilingual and bicultural young people, who were to help Spanish companies expand to Germany as intercultural bridge builders.

Due to the requests from the various migrant communities, the AEF began to develop a transfer concept at an early stage in order to pass on its know-how in parent education on the topic of school success for migrant children. In addition to the "women's courses", since 2020 called "MiA courses", the AEF has carried out the following special projects on the topic of integration, parenting and school success of migrant children in Germany in recent years: 

- LEONARDO project and continuation as IMPULSO® educational programme for bilingual and bicultural young people (promotion of lifelong learning and strengthening of social competences since 2000). Funded as a model project by the EU (2000-2001) and later by the Spanish Embassy.

- Transfer project "Smart Children of Strong Parents": Strengthening the parenting skills and school success of migrants, especially of Russian, Turkish and Arab origin in NRW (2005-2007 and 2012-2013), funded by the state of NRW.

- Project "Die Elternbrücke" (Parents' Bridge) funded by the BAMF in Dortmund 01.09.2009-30.09.2012 mainly for Turkish, Arab and Moroccan parents.

- The AEF was the sponsor of the BAMF project "Neue Heimat Schwarzwald" (No. 2625BW0048) from 2016-2019, primarily for refugees from Syria, Iraq and Iran.

- Likewise, the BAMF project "My new life in Germany - New home Bonn-Rhein/Sieg" (No. 2625NW0183) from 2018-2021.

- "Erfolgswege - Bildungserfolg von Migrantenkindern - Pathways to Success - Educational Success of Migrant Children" (2019-2020), funded by NRW for refugees from Turkey and Syria.

In addition to these projects, the AEF runs the integration courses for learning German on behalf of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). In the prescribed textbooks, the contents of the school system and child rearing occur in different contexts and offer the opportunity to pass on one's own experiences to the target group. In this context, the AEF has continuously expanded and additionally digitalized its educational offer in recent years due to the various waves of immigration, such as from Spain in 2008 due to the economic crisis, the war refugees from Syria and Iraq from 2015 and currently from Ukraine. The latter due to the Corona pandemic. These experiences also flow into the conception of new projects. 

The AEF's experience from the aforementioned projects and its many years of work with parents confirms in practice the theoretical basic assumptions and hypotheses on the educational success of migrant children. The key point is volunteer parents who are active as multipliers in their communities and set positive examples. In ethnically, culturally and religiously heterogeneous groups, there are particularly good transfer possibilities and results if the principles of Paulo Freire's dialogical pedagogy are applied.[2]   

With this experiential knowledge, the AEF is participating in the ERASMUS+ project "Parents for Inclusion - Padres por la inclusión" and is making its know-how available in the form of two didactic-pedagogical modules on the topics of generative topic identification and self-organization.

[1] See Katrin Ramsauer: Bildungserfolge von Migrantenkindern – der Einfluss der Herkunftsfamilie, Deutsches Jugendinstitut, München 2011, S. 7-11

[2] See. Vicente Riesgo: „Academia Española de Formación – „Starke Kinder starker Eltern“, in: Elternhaus und Schule. Dokumentation der Tagung vom 28.11.2006. Hrsg.: Ministerium für Generationen, Familie, Frauen und Integration des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf 2007, S. 29-30.

The described and well-known structural deficits of the German school system have been the subject of heated debate for decades and, more recently, of in-depth research.

This is especially true in the area of schools and educational opportunities for children from immigrant families. The National Integration Plan (NIP) openly describes the deficits in German integration and education policy.   In its entirety, the NIP confirms the findings of social disadvantage of migrant children and unequal educational opportunities described at the beginning. At the same time, the NIP points to the educational success of the children of Spanish "guest workers", who clearly belong to the winners of the German education system, going against the general trend.[1] The empirical key data are clear: in 1973, 70% of the children of Spanish "guest workers" in Germany did not achieve a school leaving certificate. The official statistics did not record any higher school-leaving qualifications among this group. The most successful groups in the German school system at that time were the children of Turkish migrants, of whom 6%, and the children of Italian migrants, of whom 5% achieved a Gymnasium degree. The Gymnasium was and is considered the most prestigious and highest school-leaving qualification in Germany, as already explained. Within a very short time, this situation changed dramatically for the better for the children of Spaniards in Germany. Less than 30 years later, 38% achieved a Gymnasium degree, which is higher than the Gymnasium rate of German children of 32%! With other educational qualifications, almost 70 % of Spanish-speaking children today gain access to university.[2] 

The fact that Spanish children are real educational winners in the German education system can be seen in comparison to the development of Turkish and Italian children. Here, the Gymnasium rate rose to 8% for Turkish and 6% for Italian children in the same period, which is tantamount to stagnation. Another interesting finding is the socio-economic background of Spanish migrants from the 1960s and 1970s. A disproportionately large number of Spaniards from rural regions, mostly with little formal education, immigrated to Germany from Spain[3] In addition, Spain was not a democratic state until Franco's death. If one summarizes these initial conditions and the systemic conditions of socio-economic disadvantage of migrant children in the German education system, according to general opinion and parts of educational research, this empirically proven educational success should not actually exist. The negative example of the Italian children, on the other hand, fulfils expectations and offers an interesting comparison to the Spanish community, since cultural factors such as language and culture are similar and the children have basically the same intelligence per se.[4]   

Therefore, the question automatically arises as to the reasons for this educational success of Spanish-speaking migrant children, the experiences and lessons learned, and the transferability of this model. The key to success is identified by the NIP and research: self-organization and parental work or, more precisely, educational work with migrant parents, as exemplified by the Academia Española de Formación - Spanische Weiterbildungsakademie e.V. (AEF) as well as other self-organizations such as the Confederación-Bund Spanischer Elternvereine.

The following presentation of this educational work and the emergence of the Academia Española de Formación - Spanische Weiterbildungsakademie e.V. cannot be given here in all details. With regard to the ERASMUS-Plus project "Parents for Inclusion", those pedagogical approaches and experiences that make the significance of Paulo Freire's action-oriented pedagogy and generative themes understandable will therefore be examined more closely. Historical developments are not easily repeatable, but factors and processes that promote success can be determined and examined for their current relevance and transferability. The decisive question here is the path, i.e. the "how" or the method, based on the conviction that this success is fundamentally repeatable and transferable.

[1] See Nationaler Integrationsplan, Hrsg. Bundesregierung, Berlin 2007

[2] See Martin Spiewak, Aufsatz: Staatsangehörigkeit: „deutchs“, in: DIE ZEIT, Nr. 30, 18. Juli 2002, Seite 3

[3] See. Vicente Riesgo und Jesús Hernandez: „Die spanische Auswanderer-Familie in der Bundesrepublik. Situationsanalyse und Versuch einer sozilogischen Interpretation“, in: CARITAS, Zeitschrift für Caritasarbeit und Caritaswissenschaft, 1982,4

[4] The instrumentalisation of this topic is particularly evident in the controversy surrounding Thilo Sarrazin's book, "Deutschland schafft sich ab", which was published in 2010. The book is subtitled "How we are putting our country at risk". In it, a direct connection is constructed between immigration from Muslim countries, genetic intelligence, declining birth rates and poor educational results in the sense of a growing social and educationally deprived underclass. This book does not address the positive counter-examples. Regardless of the discussion about the discriminatory and racist style and content, the book is one of the most successful non-fiction books in Germany. Thilo Sarrazin was a member of the board of the Deutsche Bundesbank and a member of the SPD. Because of this book, he had to resign from his post and was expelled from the SPD in 2020.

However, the unique selling point of the Spaniards is both their pragmatic and pedagogical approach. They are the only migrant group in Germany who explicitly organized themselves in the form of parents' associations to deal with a concrete problem of their living environment in migration.

The initial situation and experiences of the Spanish immigrants ("guest workers"), who wanted to improve the future of their children in migration, were by no means promising. After the first signs of economic crisis, Germany began to restrict recruitment and immigration and offered bonuses for returning to the recruiting countries. Therefore, after the so-called "recruitment stop" in 1973, Spanish immigrants had to make a decision and the majority opted to stay in Germany and join their families.[1] The issue of family and school determined the real environment of those concerned in view of the serious problems the children had in German schools. The first Spanish parents' and cultural associations in Germany emerged as a form of self-help. The Spanish Catholic Missions in Germany, and especially their Department for School Issues and Adult Education with its newsletter CARTA A LOS PADRES (Letter to Parents), which appeared from 1972 onwards, played an important role in this organizational process. It is therefore no coincidence that the founding of the Federation of Spanish Parents' Associations - the Confederación as an umbrella organization took place in the year of the so-called "recruitment stop" in 1973.[2]  The founding and objectives of the Confederación reflect not only the contradictions in German migration policy, but also the conflicts within the group of Spaniards themselves. Differences and disagreements outweighed the few commonalities and seemed to make cooperation impossible. The educational prerequisites among the Spanish immigrants were by no means good. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that Francoism still prevailed in Spain. The Confederación was founded in the spirit of resistance against Frankism and the expected democratization of Spain, but the political spectrum of opinion among the Spanish immigrants ranged from regime supporters to anarchists. Even on cultural and religious issues, there was by no means unanimity.

However, a veritable wave of founding Spanish parents' associations followed the constitution of the Confederación, which relied on the principle of self-help and self-organization with the aim of social participation. This process of self-organization and the local volunteer-led activities in the newly founded associations were accompanied and complemented by the adult education work of the Department of the Spanish Catholic Missions under the motto "organizational work is always educational work and vice versa". [3]   

According to the theorems of Freire's pedagogy, the real environment of the people concerned is the starting point for the dialogue-based educational work. Not predetermined results and curricula are the contents of a dialogical educational process, but the generative themes of the participants, who themselves become recognized experts of their own reality in this learning process. The generative topic of the time was family and the children's success at school. The participants' own concern led to an overarching interest in the topic of school, which resulted in an unparalleled mobilization success. The ability to formulate strategic goals that were supported by the members and implemented operationally with a high mobilization potential is one of the strengths of the parents' associations to this day. In matters of school, the Spanish community agreed on the implementation of two far-reaching fundamental decisions: firstly, the integration of migrant children into the German mainstream school and secondly, the implementation of mother-tongue teaching.[4] The projected goal of the educational work was and is to convince parents and young people of the necessity of a good school education in Germany and, if possible, to strive for a Gymnasium degree.

All over Germany educational events about the German school and vocational training system were initiated and carried out, and political education and lobbying work was continued at the grassroots level with the support of the Spanish Catholic Missions and later by the AEF in Germany. The formulated strategic goals of integrating migrant children into mainstream German schools and maintaining cultural identity through mother-tongue supplementary education have proven to be correct and far-sighted decisions in the long term. At the time of the Confederación's founding, these fundamental decisions were tantamount to a revolution, for they corresponded neither to current policy nor to the recommendations of educational research. Official policy in Spain and Germany pursued concepts of "rotation" and "returnability". In Germany, moreover, people discussed whether "national classes" should be set up in schools or integration simply meant assimilation. With the demand for integration into the German school system, the Spanish-speaking community clearly took a position with the option of integrating the children into the local society. The retention of cultural identity and the demand for supplementary mother-tongue instruction is a good example of the Spanish parents' proven foresight and analytical pragmatism. The argument that children going to school in Germany should also communicate with their grandparents in Spain laid the foundation for the development of a bilingual and bicultural generation. The fact that preserving their language skills and cultural identity opens up excellent opportunities for migrant children in today's globalized economy is demonstrated by the experience of the AEF's LEONARDO education project IMPULSO®. The IMPULSO® project is an educational program to promote bicultural and bilingual youth and professionals, bringing together Spanish-speaking professionals and managers with international companies, especially from the Spanish-speaking world.

In this process of self-organization and educational work, the Spanish migrants could not fall back on ready-made academic concepts or curricula. For pragmatic reasons and because of the times, it can be explained that the educators working here made use of the then much-discussed dialogical method of Paulo Freire's pedagogy and adapted it for the conditions of migration in an industrial society and made it usable.[5]  This context and the fact that the established German educational institutions did not offer anything or respond to the needs of Spanish migrants explains the emergence and importance of special educational work within the Spanish-speaking community in Germany. The next logical step was the founding of the Academia Española de Formación (AEF) - Spanish Academy of Continuing Education in 1984 to provide an institutional basis for continuing education. The AEF was thus also the first bicultural project in Germany of an educational institution with state recognition that pursued the goal of carrying out intercultural and emancipatory educational work by migrants for migrants.

[1] See. Schmalz-Jacobson, Cornelia/Georg Hansen (Hrsg.): Ethnische Minderheiten in der Bundsrepublik Deutschland. Ein Lexikon, München 1995 S. 471-476

[2] See. Barbara von Breitenbach, Der spanische Elternverein als Mittel zur Willensbildung und Selbstbestimmung, Frankfurt 1978

[3] See Vicente Riesgo, „Selbsthilfepotentiale nutzen und Migrantenvereine fördern: Das Beispiel der Spanier in Deutschland“, in: Integration und Integrationsförderung in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft, Band Nr. 91, Gesprächskreis der Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Bonn 1999

[4] See Viente Riesgo, „Migranten sind aktiv – Zum gesellschaftlichen Engagement von Migrantinnen und Migranten“, Vortrag gehalten auf einer Fachtagung des Bundesministeriums für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend, Berlin Dezember 2004.

[5] See. Jesús Hernández, Pädagogik des Seins, o.O., 1975

Children of migrants do not fail because of the school system, but they are likely to fail within the school system. This empirical finding is not intended to question the structural deficits of the German education system. Rather, this analysis opens up a real option for action for parents, teachers and schools.

Of crucial importance for the educational success of Spanish-speaking migrant children in Germany is self-organization and social participation.

In this respect, the school problem represents the first generative guiding theme on which the different groups could agree as a common basis for cooperation. Later on, the topic of "ageing in migration" was added. In this respect, too, the Spanish community is the only one in Germany that took up this taboo topic at an early stage and developed the senior education program ¡Adentro! with the AEF.

The recourse to the pedagogy of Paulo Feire was a stroke of luck and impressively demonstrates the viability of this concept. Originally developed for literacy in Brazil and developing countries, it has proven its worth in educational work with disadvantaged groups, such as migrants, in industrialized societies in Europe.

The AEF's experience in the field of intercultural parental work in and with different migrant communities shows that:[1]

• Migrant parents are strong. They have rich cultural, personal, biographical and psychosocial resources that can be mobilized to improve their own quality of life.
• Migrant parents are experts in their own life situation, can formulate their interests themselves and represent their concerns confidently and directly.
• Migrant parents are highly motivated about their children's future and can be very interested and involved in the issues of their children's education and success at school.
• Migrant parents can implant in their children a positive self-image - about themselves, about the family and about their community - as well as self-esteem. In doing so, they lay crucial foundations for their success in school and in life.
• Migrant parents can organize themselves in solidarity, stand up for their children's interests in solidarity and accompany and support them efficiently and successfully in their school and educational careers.

Parental work based on these premises has its own characteristics and features that must be taken into account when planning educational measures.

• Parental work is always also organizational and educational work at the same time. It is never just information work. It encompasses the person as a whole and has to do with their attitudes and values, with their insights, emotions, competences and skills.
• Parental work has to be organized systemically and must not be limited or reduced to the fields of education and school. Parental work must include all areas of life that are important for parents.
• Parent work promotes the social and cognitive competences of those concerned through the use of appropriate methods. The question of methodology has a central position in parental work and is inseparable from the aspects of content.
• In parental work, the parents determine the topics and not the supposed experts. The parents are equal subjects who are in a joint learning process with the trainers. Everyone learns from everyone with the aim of improving the family quality of life and shaping the children's future positively.
• Parent work specifically focuses on mobilizing all the resources and potential of the parents, strengthens their forces and begins to change reality without waiting for outside help.
• In this respect, parent work is always a reflection on practice.
• The school can benefit from strong parents. This works best when strong parents meet strong teachers.

[1] Based on Vicente Riesgo: „Academia Española de Formación – „Starke Kinder starker Eltern“, in: Elternhaus und Schule. Dokumentation der Tagung vom 28.11.2006. Hrsg.: Ministerium für Generationen, Familie, Frauen und Integration des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf 2007, S. 29-30.