3 new projects off to start!

In May, our UU and UMC colleagues had the opportunity to apply for funding and support to help create activities that fit the scope of Youth Education and Life Skills. In our community, we focus on how education empowers young people and these projects will help get a better understanding of this. We are very happy to announce that the following three projects have been granted financial support and will be running between September 2024 and September 2025.

The three new projects that received funding are:

Language support for Ukrainian refugee pupils 
By Elena Tribushinina 

Project outline: 

Around 98,000 Ukrainian refugees migrated to the Netherlands, including ca. 20,000 school-aged children (CBS, 11-4-2024). These vulnerable children face multiple challenges, receiving education through a new language and adapting to a new culture. There has been a lot of variability in how Ukrainian pupils receive(d) education and language support. Some children, especially primary-school pupils with sufficient English skills, were immediately immersed in Dutch-only classrooms. Other children started off at language schools, with varying amounts of support in their home language (Ukrainian or Russian). There were also in between cases where children participated in the Dutch-only curriculum in mainstream schools, but still received some support in their first language (e.g., through ambulant tutors). This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of these language support trajectories for the development of children’s language skills, general academic performance and socio-emotional well-being. Based on the insights from educational psychology and language acquisition (e.g., Blom et al., 2021; Cummins, 2001; Donovan & Brandsford, 2004), we hypothesize that (initial) support in the child’s home language lays a crucial foundation for learning new languages and enhances children’s well-being and general academic performance. With the outcomes of this research, we hope to make recommendations to policy makers regarding the effects of different types of language support to refugee children. In the spirit of Dynamics of Youth, this project crucially hinges on co-creation, as members of the Ukrainian refugee community (researchers, parents, teachers) are actively involved in all stages of this research, from determining goals and constructing test instruments to dissemination and identifying paths for future research. 

Names applicants and faculties: 

Elena Tribushinina (Faculty of Humanities, Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Institute for Language Sciences) 

Partners: 

Dr. Natalia Rekonvald: affiliated researcher at the Institute for Language Sciences (ILS), formerly associate professor at Odesa National Mechnikov University  
Dr. Hanna Tryfonova, affiliated researcher at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICON), formerly associate professor and dean of the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Languages at Mariupol State University 
Prof. dr. Elma Blom (Utrecht University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies) 

Project duration: 

October 2024- September 2025 

Powered by Students! Using Students’ Experiences to improve UMC Utrecht’s International Medical Elective program 
By Judith van de Kamp, Iris Homan, Noortje Campman, Albertine Baauw 

Project outline:   

In 2021, the IME program team started an ambitious plan to establish equitable partnerships with five of the international hospitals where our medical students do medical electives (both clinical electives and research electives, for 6 to 12 weeks, for master students). The aim was to create a sustainable and mutual relationship, rooted in reciprocity as a shared value, with benefits for institutions and individuals on ‘both sides’. Today, we have (and are continuously strengthening) three partnerships, with hospitals in Malawi, Suriname and Ghana. Within the context of these partnerships, we have adapted our ‘student support system’. This means that we have redesigned our Pre-Departure Training (PDT), and we are also currently designing e-learnings and a Post-Return Training (PRT). The goal of the PRT is to empower students to reflect on their newly gained and strengthened life skills and support them in applying those skills in their (future) career in the Dutch healthcare system, and life in general. The Dutch organization for internationalization in education has identified 36 like skills that students gain from an international elective (see TOP11 below in the blue window). As UMC Utrecht professionals responsible for optimizing student learning, we want to take our responsibility and facilitate that our medical students continuously strengthen and apply life skills in other professional settings. This will benefit their professional and personal growth, and it will also contribute positively to inclusive healthcare in The Netherlands. For this reason, our goals are:  

A. Supporting students in the process of identifying which like skills they developed most during their international medical electives;  
B. Using this input to facilitate students to strengthen and apply these life skills in other (medical) settings through their education and career;  
C. Supporting other medical schools in life skills strengthening linked to international medical electives, both nationally and internationally. By doing this, we aim to empower students and the students empower us by building a robust and strong support system for life skills strengthening and use! 

Names applicants and faculties: 

Judith van de Kamp (Faculty of Medicine, medical anthropology) 

Partners:   

Mulanje Mission Hospital (MMH), Malawi 
Greater Accra Regional Hospital (GARH), Ghana  
Academic Hospital Paramaribo (AZP), Suriname 

Project duration:   

September 2024-September 2025 

Dynamics of Family Life in Islamic Families with Migrant Background: Mapping Parenting Support Needs and Available Resources 

By Semiha Bekir, Ouissam Abattouy 

Project outline:   

ISPED is an international expert network of researchers and professionals specialized in the field of Islamic pedagogies and Islamic religious education. ISPED’s goal is twofold, first to promote collaboration between academics who study issues related to formal and informal Islamic education and Islamic spiritual upbringing (faith-based parenting & child-rearing practices) in nonMuslim contexts such as the Netherlands. Second, ISPED’s goal is to bring together professionals from the field of Islamic education and pedagogy (e.g. school principals and teachers in Islamic schools, mosque teachers, pedagogical knowledge institutes, and formal providers of Islamic parenting support that are affiliated with municipalities and family support centers such as the Consultatiebureau, the Buurtteam and GGZ) with scholars. This is needed to narrow the gap between research and practice, and to produce more relevant studies addressing the real-life challenges of Muslim families. The project has the potential to not only map a field that we know little about (the role of Islamic parenting support and of Islamic education in the family life of Dutch Muslims), but also to offer possibilities for co-creating research with practitioners and the studied communities. 

Names applicants and faculties: 

Semiha Bekir (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Education and Pedagogy, Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies) 
Ouissam Abattouy (Social and Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary Social Science) 

Project duration:   

September 2024-September 2025