Supplementary Training Helps Teachers with Immigrant Backgrounds Obtain Employment in Their Own Field

​The University of Turku has tailored education programmes for teachers with immigrant backgrounds.

– We know that there is a need for qualification training in Finland. A lot of immigrants live in our area, and our faculty is doing research on this question. In 2010, we applied for special funding from the Ministry for arranging qualification training, and we received it. In spring 2011, the first training began, says Professor Arja Virta. Since then, the training has been arranged yearly.

For new arrivals, the Brahea Centre offers preparatory training. The Turku Unit of the Department of Teacher Education provides pedagogical studies for teachers with immigrant backgrounds who have applied for recognition of their teaching qualifications from the Finnish National Board of Education or are in other ways eager to qualify as teachers in Finland, as well as multidisciplinary studies for class teachers. In addition, all teachers are offered supplementary training on language and cultural awareness in teaching. The department works in close collaboration with Turun normaalikoulu to implement these trainings.

University Lecturer Maria Korpela notes that the Government Programme promises to not only improve the employment situation of immigrants, but to also place special emphasis on the qualification requirements and qualification of teachers with immigrant backgrounds.

– The visibility of teachers with immigrant backgrounds in schools is meaningful for immigrant children as well. They see someone they can identify with, says University Lecturer Jenni Alisaari.

Teachers with immigrant backgrounds also act as intermediaries between schools and immigrant families, as cultural interpreters. The new core curriculum for basic education that will come into force in 2016 highlights language and cultural awareness.

– Teachers with immigrant backgrounds bring their own valuable addition to the Finnish school system. These teachers are often quite skilled already when they come for the training, thanks to their diverse experiences. For example, many are very skilled with and aware of languages, and having these teachers as a part of the school community will make it easier to build a teaching environment that includes language and cultural awareness, says Korpela.

Grateful for the Training

Mariia Dunaeva graduated in 2013 as a teacher from Petrozavodsk State University with Finnish as her major. As soon as she graduated, she was accepted into the University of Turku’s Master's Degree Programme in Finnish and other Finno-Ugric Languages, and she had to move to Finland.

– I had already studied for a long time, and I wanted to utilise the degree that I got in Russia here in Finland. I applied for the teaching qualification recognition from the Finnish National Board of Education, but they required that I do more pedagogical studies, says Dunaeva.

At first, the demand for supplementary training caused some thought, as she already had a full timetable from her other studies in Turku. But as soon as the training began, the doubts vanished from her mind.

– Now I’m grateful for the supplementary training. Finnish and Russian schools are so different. For example, students are approached in completely different ways. In Russia, the teacher is an authority figure, but in Finland the teacher is more like an equal who guides students, says Dunaeva.

From Subject Teacher to Class Teacher

One year ago, the Department of Teacher Education began training immigrants who are qualified subject teachers into class teachers. One of the first of these was Monika Törn, a Hungarian-born physical education and health education teacher.

– My school was turned into a comprehensive school, and since then class teachers have taught subjects and subject teachers have taught primary school classes. There’s a lot of competition for classes. I thought that I could like working as a class teacher. Double qualifications are an advantage when applying for jobs, says Törn.

Alisaari and Korpela confess that even the lecturers are a bit worried about the workload of the two-year class teacher training, especially when many of the students work on the side while they complete their training. Many of the participants are already working as unqualified teachers, but permanent employment requires qualification.

The students live in different parts of Finland, but they still have mandatory attendance days. While some of these can be compensated with distance learning, these take many hours a week.

– When the topics are interesting, the lectures nice, and the people friendly, it’s not that hard to cope, says Törn.

Training Brings Career Opportunities

Virta, Korpela and Alisaari know that there is demand for teachers with immigrant backgrounds. If a school has four students who speak the same language as their mother tongue, the school can offer them language teaching in their mother tongue. Having teachers with immigrant backgrounds would be a great help in this.

– For example, schools in the eastern region of Turku have had two teachers in the classroom for some lessons. One teacher teaches the whole class, and the other has an immigrant background and can support the immigrant students by speaking their mother tongue, says Alisaari.

The training has gotten results. For example, after moving in December Dunaeva has worked as a substitute special education teacher, class teacher and classroom assistant in Riihimäki, as well as a secondary school and upper secondary school teacher in a Finnish-Russian school in Helsinki. 

Text: Erja Hyytiäinen
Translation: Sam Parwar