The 'Whole School Approach' is a collaborative approach which involves teachers, school heads, other education professionals, parents as well as the local community. This approach has been found to be a significant factor in addressing migrant students' holistic needs and ensuring students’ continued progress.

An initial assessment of newly arrived migrant students is not widely carried out and is rarely comprehensive in Europe. These elements usually contribute either to decisions on how to place the students in schools and/or to provide learning support to meet their needs.

The teaching of the language of instruction to migrant students poses particular challenges as this language is often a second or additional language which needs to be learnt and mastered to a sufficiently high level in order to learn other subjects.

Students’ well-being at school also depends on their parents’ perception and attitudes towards school, learning and teaching (Trasberg & Kong, 2017; Smit, Driessen, Sluiter & Sleegers, 2007). Parents’ perceptions of the school may be shaped by a number of factors, these include discussions with their children, other parents and school staff, their children’s school performance.

In addition to developing the language competences of students from migrant backgrounds and ensuring they are making good progress generally, it is equally important that schools attend to students’ social, emotional and mental well-being. Newly arrived migrant students, in particular, have to acquire a new language, adapt to new academic routines as well as deal with unfamiliar experiences in the wider community.

Intercultural education can be an education principle, a cross-curricular theme or taught through specific curriculum subjects. The first stage saw an initial mapping of existing policies and measures related to the integration of migrant students into schools in 42 education systems.