WHERE
The House of Skills is a centre of activities (neighbourhood centre) located in the suburb of Karhuvuori in Kotka run by the Kymi branch of the Finnish Red Cross. The basic mission of the House of Skills is to increase the well-being of the people living in the neighbourhood by strengthening their sense of community and offering opportunities for developing one’s skills. Most of the activities are carried out by FRC volunteers; lectures about civics for immigrants, discussion groups, lessons in English and Finnish, handiwork, activity groups for children, group for immigrant ladies, exercise groups etc. The House of Skills also offers advice, especially for immigrants in questions regarding daily life in Finland and contacts with authorities. It aims at becoming an established centre of activities in its neighbourhood and a provider of services for all residents of the suburb, especially immigrants.
Immigrant cultural interpreters are the critical success factor in language training
In 2006, the centre had seven people in subsidised employment and eight work trainees. The number of regular volunteers was approximately 12.
The House of Skills was a partner in the EQUAL Development Partnership Response.
WHY
The city of Kotka has 55,000 inhabitants of whom 1,400 are of immigrant origin. In the suburb of Karhuvuori the number of immigrants is about 400, corresponding to 11.3% of total population in the area. The city is committed to receive 50 quota refugees annually. In addition, many immigrants move to the city as family members, after having been granted asylum, or as returnees. In the region of Kotka and Hamina, many immigrants have attended Finnish language courses with little results. The immigrants often come from very different cultural backgrounds and have experienced difficult things in their life. Also, few have attended school in their home country. All of these factors are reflected in the learning results, in integration into society and in getting the necessary capabilities for working life. Many have learning difficulties or may have personal attitudes hampering learning. Such issues will be worked on together with the individual.
There is a huge need for Finnish language training that would produce results and help the immigrants integrate into society. This has been recognised by those concerned with immigrant matters, including the labour administration, authorites and the third sector.
HOW
The Kymi branch of the Finnish Red Cross manages and implements a project funded by the European Social Fund called Sukiva in the House of Skills. The project, implemented in years 2006 and 2007, promotes the integration of immigrants by offering training in the Finnish language, society and culture. Similar language training model has not been implemented elsewhere in the Kotka-Hamina region.
The target group is twofold:
The first group consists of immigrants who have attended a basic course in Finnish several times and/or for whom a traditional school-type education (labour market training for adults) has not led to satisfactory results; the learning results have remained poor and the person has failed to integrate into society. The main goals are integration, managing in everyday situations, development of Finnish language skills, identification of learning obstacles, and preparing the person for the working life.
The second group consists of immigrants who have a high or a relatively high education and good skills in Finnish, but who for some reason have it difficult to get work on the open labour market. They are hired to be trained as ‘cultural interpreters’ assisting the municipal sector and authorities. The goal is to utilise the person’s knowledge of immigrants’ background cultures and Finnish culture, as well as professional knowledge and versatile linguistic skills in working life.
The Sukiva project has two salaried teachers and four cultural interpreters. Two cultural interpreters are working at a time for a period of one year. The Sukiva project is a relatively independent part of the operations of the House of Skills. The House of Skills co-ordinator, a voluntary worker, is responsible for the project’s administration and finances.
Process
The trainees are selected together with the employment office among the customers of the employment office. They come from different nationalities and continents.
The curriculum for group 1 is started by a training period of four months consisting of a basic Finnish language course and courses on Finnish society and culture, and information technology. The teaching and learning methods are participatory, including acting and singing. A lot of visual material is used, because dictionaries are of no use to people who cannot read and/or write their own language. The aim is to identify what kind of learners the participants are and to utilise their strengths to the maximum (e.g. auditive or visual type of learner). Then follows a period of 12 weeks during which the participants are in subsidised employment/traineeship or vocational training. After that a follow-up interview is arranged with the participants to discuss their present situation, plans for the future and level of motivation.
In group 2, four persons are hired as assistants (cultural interpreters) for about a year and trained to act as support persons. Their curriculum consists of courses on Finnish society, how to act as an assistant in class environment, knowledge about working life, collective agreements for employees, civil rights and obligations.
For both target groups, the Sukiva training also includes a recruitment fair organised by the participants to market themselves to potential employers. Representatives from companies are invited to the fair. The students also make a study visit to a company employing immigrants.
For group 1 the labour market measures that are implemented are traineeship of 12 weeks, training for working life, employment subsidy, work try-out and rehabilititave activities/testing. All participants who are not placed into vocational training immediately after the four-month training period will conduct the 12-week traineeship.
Experiences
Thanks to the training, it became easier to make a target-oriented integration plan for the participants. The first course was started by 16 people and only one interrupted the course (because of maternity leave). The objective was that each participant would start further training or conduct the 12-week traineeship. This target was met to 100%. The participants’ Finnish language skills and their courage to use Finnish in everyday situations were clearly improved. Better understanding of Finnish society decreased the participants’ negative feelings and thoughts about their own role as members of society.
A key success factor and an innovative element of the project is to use ‘cultural interpreters’ as an integral part of the teaching event. In many cases, the basic education of the students in their country of origin had been of low quality or they had had no education at all. Previous Finnish language studies had been hampered by lack of study technique, difficulty to understand the concepts and terms used, and feelings of inferiority. The cultural interpreters contributed to detecting these problems and solving them by supporting the students through their versatile language skills, good understanding of students’ cultural backgrounds and Finnish culture, and by acting as living examples.
For the House of Skills the project means consolidation of operations in this area, more visibility and credibility in relation to funders and other stakeholders, as well as financial stability during the project.
Since the training has been implemented as a project, it has been possible to experiment with new approaches and change teaching methods flexibly. This is not as easy for institutions following the educational policies set by the Finnish National Board of Education. In the Sukiva project, the teachers have been free to test creative ideas in teaching and do things in a new way, which has been proven necessary for the project’s success. The trainees are a heterogeneous group. With two teachers and two cultural interpreters, it has been possible to divide the students into several groups and use teaching methods appropriate for each group.
Transferability
Similar linguistic and cultural training assisted by cultural interpreters can be arranged in any European country with immigrants from different backgrounds.
For more information: Raisa Soini, raisa.soini(at)kotka.fi and Päivi Laitinen, paivi.laitinen (at)sukiva.info