Europeanisation in migrant integration policies and practices based on the study trip to Belgium and Poland

This essay is a reflection on the education policy convergence processes in the European Union, known as Europeanisation, informed by the academic literature and a study trip to Belgium and Poland in 2024, organised by the University of Melbourne and supported by the Erasmus+ program. The processes of Europeanisation are uneven and ambiguous across European countries and are influenced by several factors, such as national path dependence. Though national policies are informed and financially supported by the EU, on the ground they are perceived and look quite different. Though Flemish education policies and educators mostly adapt to the EU, Polish policy actors seem to leverage EU resources while scaling down EU policies. In other words, Europeanisation as a policy convergence process has its own tensions and pressures and understanding of those can help education policy-makers at all levels to take meaningful and balanced decisions.