NETWORKING AND MULTICULTURAL GUIDANCE SERVICES
A challenge for counsellors and their organisations
IAEVG ConferenceJyväskylä, FINLAND4.6.2009Sauli Puukari & Matti Taajamo
Results of a Finnish ESF project
Project: The Multiprofessional Cooperation to Support the Integration of Immigrant into Working Life The project was a sub-project in CHANCES project
coordinated by the Finnish National Board of Education
Type of project: research and development Aims: Together with local and regional authorities
the project aimed at developing multi-professional cooperation based on networking to support the integration of immigrants into working life
Interviews:
Various groups of people working with immigrants: guidance and counselling, questions concerning immigration and immigrants.
Topics: Need for information on intercultural
education Good practices of immigration work Regional networking
Reflection
Planning of the training(contents and pedagogy)
Planning of the training(contents and pedagogy)
Feedback gathered at the end of training sessions
Feedback gathered at the end of training sessions
Research interviews(main data)
Research interviews(main data)
Reflection
Observation
Research data In-service training
In-service training sessions
Synthesis of the results
Further development of the in-service training
Results related to communication and encountering
Aiming at equity between the counsellor and counsellee
The importance of dialogue in counselling relationship
Culture-sensitive knowledge makes the encounter easier
Results related to communication and encountering
”The one who does the job must first have the right attitude for it, so that he/she meets people as persons, even if they were from anywhere from the world, and works for students, so that he/she sees their opportunities. When working in a group with different ethnicities there can be many different kinds of people, and there might be political and historical tensions. So for functionality of the group an athmosphere of respect must be established.”
(Careers guidance teacher for immigrants, Technical College, Kotka, Finland)
Results related to integration
The teacher has a great responsibility in enhancing integration
Learning Finnish language is important
Questions related to sufficient personal resources and resilience
Results related to integration
”I believe that differentiating is the thing/key for the classroom. For that we need the tools. … So then, in the teaching and learning huge amount of energy is required, when the students/pupils represent different nationalities and languages.”
(Teacher, immigration coordinator, Kotka)
Results related to experienced challenges in working with immigrants
Financial resources are not stable
Both Finns and immigrants need to develop more positive attitudes
Networking between different professionals is crucial
We must make certain that transitions in students’ learning path are smooth
Results related to experienced challenges in working with immigrants
”The starting point is that they are unemployed, seeking for work with [the help of] employment office. From there with the assistance of employment office staff they apply to courses. We have solid cooperation with the employment staff from the student selection (to the course) to the end of the course.”
(Careers guidance teacher for immigrants, Technical College, Kotka, Finland)
Co-operation and networking
No author can alone respond to customers’ need
Problem areas relate to the sufficiency, flow and coordination of information
Multiprofessional and cross-sectoral/cross-departmental co-operation is the solution
The most important observations regarding the challenges experiences in working with immigrants
among the participants in in-service training
The experienced challenge
the levels covered by the experienced challenges
The intensity of the experienced challenge
The need to develop multicultural counselling competences
Individual, organisational, local, and regional levels
Great or medium
The need to develop cultural knowledge
Individual, organisational, and local levels
Great or medium
Development of decision making and allocation of resources
Organisational, local, and regional levels
Great
The most important observations regarding the challenges experiences in working with immigrants
among the participants in in-service training
The experienced challenge
the levels covered by the experienced challenges
The intensity of the experienced challenge
Coordination of multiprofessional collaboration
Organisational, local, regional level, and national levels
Great
Development of multiprofessional working culture and approaches
Individual, organisational, local, and regional levels
Great or medium
Recognition of the significance of immigrant work within one’s own organisation
Individual, and organisational levels
Great or medium
Discussion
The role of leadership is important in developing guidance and counselling services for immigrants!
More attention should be paid to integrating also leaders in development project, not just people who work directly with immigrants
One solution: In-service training which involves all key groups – including leaders - in developing guidance and counselling services
Discussion
Although the need for multiprofessional collaboration is widely acknowledged, too little attention has been paid to systematic development of appropriate approaches and leadership
Leaders from collaborating organisations at local and regional levels should have regular meetings in order to find ways how they could enhance and support multiprofessional collaboration
Discussion
Leaders should familiarize themselves with the everyday guidance and counselling work in order to undertand the needs and requirements of counsellors and other professionals working with immigrants
Counsellors and other professionals should provide the leaders with sufficient information on the situation in their field-work and negotiate about how to ensure good quality in guidance provision
Discussion
Summa summarum: better connections between the management level and field workers as well as between different organisations at local and regional level are needed in order to provide immigrants with good guidance and counselling services