The wellbeing and integration of immigrant students is a hot topic in many countries, including Finland. In this guest post, Doctoral Researcher and Education and Teaching Coordinator Iida Kallio shares insights from the joint VOITTO project by the Universities of Tampere and Jyväskylä which investigates how newly arrived immigrant students’ integration into the school community can be comprehensively supported.
Globalization, humanitarian crises, and other factors increasing migration flows have forced more and more schools into new situations in recent years. Teachers are motivated to support newly arrived immigrant students, but do not always know how (Alisaari et al., 2021; Harju-Autti & Sinkkonen, 2020; Kaukko et al., 2019; Mustonen, 2021). Thus, schools face burning questions: How can we arrange teaching that considers every student? How to provide support to students from multilingual and multicultural backgrounds?
In the VOITTO project, funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, we have investigated how to comprehensively support newly arrived immigrant students transitioning from preparatory education to mainstream education in lower secondary school. Based on previous research, there are three key goals in teaching newly arrived students: 1) promoting a sense of safety, 2) supporting language learning, and 3) fostering integration (see e.g. Repo, 2023; Tajic & Bunar, 2023; Akinyi Obondo, 2018). In this guest post, I focus on examining how schools support students' language learning in Finland.
Our research is a multi-method study combining qualitative and quantitative data, involving 40 schools across Finland. All 40 schools participated in general school engagement surveys and the development of a pedagogical language learning assessment tool. Additionally, the project conducted participatory action research involving five schools. In short, action research is a theoretical-methodological approach aimed at studying and simultaneously changing reality. Through action research, the VOITTO project strengthens practices that professionals have found to be effective. The core of action research in our study is the improvement of practices and the resolution of observed challenges through participatory processes. A key aspect of action research is the involvement and engagement of people involved in the practices. For students’ language learning, action research offers a unique perspective to examine practices and how the use of different practices concretely affects students’ engagement with school.
The VOITTO project investigates how to best support newly arrived immigrant students’ transition from preparatory education to mainstream education in lower secondary school.
In the action research schools, we conducted classroom observations, videotaped teacher activities, interviewed teachers, students, and administration, and observed school culture. We combined classroom observations with quantitative situation-specific school engagement surveys, adding novelty to our research. The goal of the action research was to identify effective support practices in schools and further develop them. Professional teachers chose the practices they found effective and wanted to further develop themselves. Through interviews, observations and quantitative measurements, we examined how the practices used by teachers affect newly arrived students' situation-specific school engagement.
In the analysis, practice architecture theory has served as the guiding theory, which enables a deeper understanding of practices by examining the enabling and hindering arrangements. Instead of individual practices, the analysis led us to examine an intertwined system of practices where practices are dependent on each other. For example, supporting students’ language development requires enabling teachers’ professional development so that the practice can be implemented and improved.
Preliminary findings indicate that teachers' use of language and culture aware teaching practices positively influenced students' situation-specific school engagement. These practices included, for example, functional and game-based activities, peer tutoring, pair and small group work, enabling student communication, and utilizing students' first languages as part of new language learning. Based on observations, for example, when teachers utilized students' first languages in teaching a new language, students' school engagement was at a higher level compared to when the teacher did not utilize it.
Using students’ first languages in teaching a new language can increase their school engagement.
Teachers found it particularly challenging to support students with weak academic skills and disrupted educational backgrounds. Moomin Language School was used to support language learning especially for such students in lower secondary school, although it is aimed at students in early childhood education and primary school. The fact that literacy skills are not required in Moomin Language School has been very beneficial according to one preparatory education teacher.
According to the Finnish curriculum for preparatory education (EDUFI, 2015, p. 5), the main goal is to "provide the student with the necessary skills in Finnish or Swedish and other necessary skills for transitioning to basic education." The teachers and school leaders involved in the research emphasize that language learning occurs in all interactions. It is important that the entire school has a language and culture aware operational culture and that the integration of new students is a collective responsibility of everyone – the entire school staff and other students. It is also important to organize the learning environment so that students have the opportunity to interact with other students. One principal points out that it is important for the preparatory class to be located in the middle of the school – not somewhere off to the side or, in the worst case, in a completely separate building. At its best, preparatory education can be a significant part of the school community and enable two-way integration and learning.
Iida Kallio
Doctoral Researcher at Tampere University and Education and Teaching Coordinator at United Nations Youth of Finland
References
Akinyi Obondo, M. (2018). Teachers of Newcomer Immigrants in Provincial Schools in Sweden: A Quest for Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Era of Homogenization, Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 12:3, 111-123, DOI: 10.1080/15595692.2017.1414794
Alisaari, J., Kaukko, M., & Heikkola, L. M. (2021). The Joys of Teaching: Working with Language Learners in Finnish Classrooms. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 66(4), 566–579.
EDUFI. (2019). Kehittyvän kielitaidon tasojen kuvausasteikko: Perusopetuksessa käytössä oleva sovellus Eurooppalaisesta viitekehyksestä. Saatavissa: https://www.oph.fi/sites/default/files/documents/kielitaidon_tasojen_kuvausasteikko.pdf [Referred 14.2.2025]
Harju-Autti, R., & Sinkkonen, H.-M. (2020). Supporting Finnish language learners in basic education: Teachers’ views. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 22(1).
Kaukko, M., Kielinen, M., & Alasuutari, H. (2019). Linnunpesästä lentoon. Valmistavan opetuksen praksis opettajien kertomana. Kasvatus, 50(19), 474–488.
Mustonen, S. (2021). ‘I’ll always have black hair’–challenging raciolinguistic ideologies in Finnish schools. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 7(3), 159–168.
Repo, E. (2023). Towards language-aware pedagogy? Experiences of students in multilingual Finnish schools. Language and Education, 37(4), 460–482. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2022.2116985
Tajic, D., & Bunar, N. (2023). Do both ‘get it right’? Inclusion of newly arrived migrant students in Swedish primary schools. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 27(3), 288-302. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2020.1841838