CORE vita : Empowering young refugees in Italy and Switzerland
Production mechanic Abraham Tesfazghi, apprentice design engineer Panteha Tahikhani and integration pre-apprentice Nathnael Lebelo confidently guide a diverse group of Italian and Swiss asylum and integration specialists through Everllence’s production facilities in Zurich. The three individuals, all of whom have refugee backgrounds, talk about their journey towards integration, their training and the integration pre-apprenticeship. Since 2022, this one-year bridge programme has provided a pathway to vocational apprenticeships in Switzerland. Panteha Tahikhani sums it up: “For me, the integration pre-apprenticeship was not just preparation for a vocational apprenticeship, but so much more. It helped me regain my self-esteem and believe in my own abilities.”
It was precisely these kinds of approaches that interested the Italian delegation of 20 people who visited the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) at the end of October. The exchange was part of the CORE vita project, through which the Department of International Educational Development at PH Zurich is contributing to strengthening life skills and the integration of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers (UMA) in Italy from 2025 to 2027. To this end, Italian teachers, carers and social workers are receiving training on the CORE e-learning course, which promotes the personal development and professional integration of UMA. In addition, local networks are being established among professionals to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience on challenges and best practices through peer learning. The project is funded under Switzerland’s second contribution to selected EU Member States and is supported by the State Secretariat for Migration and the Swiss Embassy in Italy.
Marta Prarolo, an educator and project staff member from Italy, emphasised that the focus of this exchange was on practical implementation: “Given our direct work with children and young people, we are particularly interested in the practical implementation of education and integration for UMA at a local level, as well as the issues that arise in the process.” The insights gained at the Zurich Asylum Organisation (AOZ), the Fashion and Design Vocational School and Everllence, as well as the subsequent discussions at PH Zurich, demonstrated the extent of mutual interest between Switzerland and Italy and the potential for learning from one another.
At the same time, the exchange also highlighted the complexity of the situation facing UMA, particularly in relation to legal certainty, age assessments and career opportunities. Véronique Reisinger, a teacher at the Limmatschulhaus in Zurich, emphasised: “The educational and career opportunities that children and young people ultimately have can depend on the specific local authority, the school and the teachers.” This is an issue with which youth worker Federico Giometti from Italy is also familiar: “Depending on the region, UMA face very different educational and career opportunities.”
Despite these shared challenges, there were also numerous areas in which Switzerland and Italy could learn from each other’s best practices. Whilst the Italian experts, for example, were interested in the close cooperation between schools and businesses within the Swiss education system, the Swiss specialists were particularly keen to learn more about their Italian colleagues’ experiences in working with UMA. The different scales involved were also discussed, as some individual municipalities in Italy look after as many children and young people as entire Swiss cantons.
The three days, packed with discussions and new insights, flew by. However, the exchange within the framework of CORE vita is set to continue, on the one hand through the development and consolidation of local networks, and on the other through further CORE workshops in Italy, which have so far been held in fourteen out of twenty Italian regions. By the end of the project, the aim is to reach around 5000 UMA in Italy and strengthen their life skills and support them in realising their career potential. The goal is to enable them to pursue successful educational and career paths, just like the three young people at Everllence. Or, in the words of Panteha Tahikhani: “Today I go through life with greater self-confidence, have new goals and look to the future with hope.”
Free online teaching resource CORE
CORE vita is one of a number of projects using the CORE life skills teaching resource, which was developed by the Department of International Projects in Education at PH Zurich. Since 2017, it has been used in various projects in Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Egypt, and is available free of charge in English, Arabic, Greek, Dari and Italian on the IPE-Textbooks platform.
