Minutes Meeting : 2nd Transnational meeting project Sherpa Datum : 15-01-2018 & 16-01-2018 Aanwezig : Marguerite Hogg (AoC), David Corke (AoC), Steffen Damgaard (Tradium), Nicole Dubois (Summa College), Monique van der Kleijn (Summa College), John Mountford (Semta), Manfred Polzin (MBO Raad), Veronique Feijen (MBO Raad), Marlies Mast (MBO Raad), Nil Kücük Kahraman (EGB), Afra Gongoll (EGB), Pirjo Raunio (Sataedu), Jaana Mäki (Sataedu), Laila Jerming Graf (Randers Kommune), Jeannette Lehninger (SFI Söderort), Svenja Dietrich (SFI Söderort), Mirjam Stommen (ROC Mondriaan), Gaby Barreto (ROC Mondriaan) Minutes by : Marlies Mast Day 1: 1. Opening Matti and Pirjo welcome everyone to their school. 2. Finnish education system by Matti Isokallio (see presentations in SharePoint.) What is important in the Finnish education system is that teachers have a high autonomy. They can design their own curricula. Also there are free meals and no tuition fees. In Finland fathers spend more time with their school-aged children than mothers. There is a strong equality in society. In 2015 there were 5.8% immigrants in Finland. This is not a high percentage. The population in Finland is aging. The Finnish education has undergone a huge reform recently. There is a new legislation, which provides more flexibility and freedom. This creates opportunities. However, there have been budget cuts during the last 5 years. At the moment step-by-step more money is coming in again. There are 18 regions in Finland. The region Satakunnan covers 4 to 4.5% of Finland. There are three VET-providers in the area. Sataedu has 300 staff and 2500-3000 students. They now have a new way of counting, which results in 1800 student years. Sataedu provides 1.2% of Finnish VET education and is in the top 3. Internationally they re in the top 10 of VET providers. They have a mobility charter until 2020. The profession of teacher is highly valued and salaries are high. Sataedu is performing well despite the budget cuts. In building/construction it s harder to recruit students. There is extra finance available to update the skills of the teacher, although the budget cuts decreased these opportunities. There are some projects on professional development. 1/8
3. Project update LTTA-meeting: The NA agreed to bring the LTTA meetings back to one. This needs to be officially agreed upon by handing in an amendment. This will be arranged in the coming months and all partners have to sign the amendment. Evaluation: Partners asked for more time for discussion. Reflection on the GPs of The Netherlands: Denmark was inspired by the extended intake procedure of School 23 and started up contract work. The translated materials of the extended intake used by School 23 can be found in SharePoint. Dissemination: You don t have to hand in the dissemination form yet, but make sure you keep it up-to-date for yourself. Dissemination is very important in the project. 4. Migrants in Finland, integration and educational challenges by Pirjo Raunio (presentation in SharePoint) Sataedu schools are widely scattered and Pirjo travels a lot between the different places. Online teaching (of which we will see an example later) is promoted. In the Finnish system there are no dead ends. There are always opportunities to continue studying. There are preparatory classes/training for immigrant children who are at school age. Immigrant students that integrate in VET education sometimes do a preparatory course, but not always. It also depends on how many immigrant students there are to form a class. Sataedu used to organise integration courses, but they have lost this opportunity. Now there are companies that offer integration courses. Some teachers who first worked for Sataedu now work for these companies. The private companies don t have to follow the standards of teachers, which makes it difficult to compete against these companies. Sataedu also used to organise literacy training, but legislation changed and they can t provide this training anymore. Integration is the responsibility of the Labour Ministry. It depends on which country students come from how difficult it is to acquire the Finnish language skills. Average is about 5 years to learn the Finnish language up to B1 standard. Language, IT, culture, society, history, working life and following part of a VET programme (a couple of weeks) are part of integration. If an immigrant wants to receive money from the Employment Office the integration course is compulsory. If people are not interested in the money, they won t do the integration course. If there are not enough people for a group to follow the course, they have to wait until there are enough people. Suggested option: In the Netherlands the integration is the responsibility of the municipalities. The municipalities want the integration courses back into the hands of the formal providers. The VET providers finally have the support of the municipalities, which makes it easier. 5. The reform of the Finnish vocation education by Anne Laine (presentation in SharePoint) In Finland teachers have a lot of autonomy. Teaching groups are mixed. There can be young people and adults in the same group. VET education is designed both for 2/8
young people without upper secondary qualifications and adults already in work life. VET education provides skills for both life and work. At the end of basic education students have about 5 choices in continuing their education. Students like to go to VET education. They have freedom and responsibility. Why reform? The objective is to reform VET education so it can better respond to the changes occurring in working life and meet the future competence needs. In future, students could acquire skills in the way that best suit them. Studies focus on the acquisition of missing skills, which shortens the duration of studies especially for adult students. Students can start new courses every 2 nd week of the month. In legislation there is no set limit in the periods of work placements. Teachers are teaching in a work environment. Excellent students need less guidance, so there is more time for students who are less confident. There is extra finance for students with special needs. It is important to realise that there are migrants who have acquired skills already. 6. Finnish language online Ari Tabell Ari Tabell shows us an online lesson during which he teaches the Finnish language to 6 Philippine nurses. He uses Adobe Connect for this. The nurses have just started the Finnish language course. 7. Preparatory education for vocational education (Valma) by Jaana Mäki (presentation in SharePoint) The aim is that learners find their future or at least the next reasonable plan. - During Valma the student continues VET-school or finds work. - Every learner has an individual study plan. - Valma training lasts a maximum of 10 months (60 competence points). - Most students start in August, but intake is non-stop. Valma is for young people (16 and up) and adults, for Finnish students and migrants. They are all in the same classroom. There are 40 learners yearly who do Valma courses. It is offered in 3 towns. The course is flexible: earning 10 competence points is compulsory. A student who follows the whole course earns 60 competence points. If a student earns competence points in Valma, he doesn t have to do this again in basic education. It s not difficult to find work practice places. 8. Good practice 1 Parts of vocational qualifications as a pathway to vocational studies. by Tommy Mäntynen. Tommy Mäntynen has taught a group of 9 boys from Afghanistan and 2 from Africa. They were 16 and older, but couldn t enter VET education straight away, so they did Valma. They started in spring 2017, because Sataedu received the financing at that time. Sataedu had to find part of a qualification that the group could do in a short amount of time. The students didn t have any basic skills. Two teachers were teaching the group, a vocation teacher and a 3/8
language teacher. This is expensive, but far more effective. When teaching these boys it s very important to understand their culture and to know how they do things. Construction is one of the most dangerous areas. Often they don t know anything about safety, but in Finland there are many rules and documents to fill in. At this moment the students have done part of the (building/construction) qualification. Tommy Mäntynen will take all 9 to do the complete qualification, because they re really good at what they do and they are motivated, despite the fact that their level of education was so low at the beginning. The students are allowed to work at real construction sites as well, although this requires a lot from the teachers. It s much easier to stay at school. The exams are so difficult, which is an obstacle. To master the Finnish language is important for the students, so they can fill in all the necessary documents, otherwise they can t go to the building sites without a teacher. It s amazing how people without basic education can learn so fast. At the start of the process, Tommy did application interviews with the students, but took everyone on anyway. They said they had been market salesmen in their home country. However, they have done building work before, encountered the same problems as we encounter here and they solve them. Their materials and tools were worse than ours. Their ability to solve problems is really good. They really work together as a group, which is different from the Finnish students. This was an experiment and it was successful, but it s difficult to find teachers to do this. Appreciating and valuing the students is very important. The teacher has to be really interested in the student, also what the student does in his spare time. 9. Teaching in reception centres by Henna Karhu (presentation in SharePoint) Sataedu used to teach in 4 refugee centres, but now they still only teach in 1. The Finnish language is taught in reception centres for 2 or 3 hours a week (this is determined by the Finnish law). In the centre for underaged boys the language was taught every day for 3 hours. The first centre where Sataedu started teaching was Punainen Risti (Red Cross Centre). Learning abilities are different. The language is taught as practical as possible: visual and instructor-led. They also try to teach migrants how to learn individually or in pairs. This is difficult, because they are used to be taught instructor-led. Language skills: speaking, writing, listening and reading. Teachers differentiate and make use of online materials. Challenges are: - the motivation diminishes - the attendance diminishes - there s a lack of study skills - weakness - people are moving from one centre to another - the timetable/calendar. In some centres there is a rule that if migrants are absent from the lessons, they lose 20% of the money they usually receive. 4/8
Challenges for teachers are: - the facilities - Is it better to teach spoken or written language? - the attitude of staff in the centre can be challenging - The information provided in the centre. - There are no peer teachers to share the experiences. Voluntary workers also help to teach the Finnish language. Under 16 migrants have to go to school. Over 16 they have to be taught in the centres. There are courses that teach Finnish at a second language at University. Strong points and weaknesses of the integration system: Strong points: there are good, motivated teachers. They really try and develop something new. They are innovative. Weakness: the competition. They can t use their experience or be systematic. Waiting times are long. Possible solution: teach migrants skills during waiting time. If they go back they can use their skills in their home country. 10. Deepening the GP and discussion You can use the skills of migrants to close the skills gap in different sectors. However, the attitude towards migrants is very negative at the moment. People say that they need all the training facilities and workplaces for Finnish people. There is also a programme from the government saying that skilled workers from abroad are needed, but they do not want to train those people that are already here. A possible solution is to place migrants in the regions and sectors where they are useful. This may increase the acceptance. Europe has launched a profiling tool, which can be adapted to the local, regional and sectoral requirements. This profiling can already be done in the asylum seeker centres. There is an interesting project in Randers where Tradium focuses on the needs of the labour market: a win-win situation. The ministry of integration in Denmark made money available for organisations to apply for. The municipality of Randers, together with two other organisations (Tradium takes part in 5 of the 6 projects) applied for the money for a project in which they wanted to train migrant workers for the companies that need skilled workers. They trained the migrants in 6 weeks to meet the standards of the companies and placed them at these companies. Companies first placed the workers for free and hired them if they met the expectations. The last 6 weeks of the project were dedicated to the needs of the companies and also the skills of the individuals. 82% of the workers have jobs after the project. Motivation and shared responsibility are key ingredients. 5/8
Day 2: 11. Next transnational meeting 12&13 April in Bünde in Germany The nearest airport is Hannover. Düsseldorf is also a possibility. The German partners will try to get everyone in the same hotel. All travel information will be sent to partners soon. 12. Good practice 2: Flexibility and guidance presented by Kirsti Fontaaine + Suvi Hyyrykoski (Presentation in SharePoint) Both teachers have extensive experience outside VET, in business and working with youth, in Finland and abroad. They are VALMA teachers and Kirsti is also a counsellor. Teachers and counsellors develop study plans (HOKS) for each individual student. They consist of three levels: a national plan, a school plan and a personal study plan. Previous work experience and prior learning is recognised in the study plan. Students who can demonstrate their skills at a workplace, get an exemption for that particular subject. The counsellor is responsible for the coordination of this process, which starts with an extensive assessment. In the recent VET reform (01-01-2018) more priority is given to these personal study plans, to allow maximum flexibility and shorten study pathways for the students. The special needs of students are part of the HOKS (problems, support needed, etc.). The focus is on acquiring missing skills. Migrants are supported to find their way in this system through intensive counselling. They study together with the Finnish students with different support. Studying usually takes place in small groups, or with specialised teachers in addition to the regular teacher. Special needs of migrant students (mental help, housing, finance) is organised through the school s network. This is done by Student Services, which consists of counsellors, doctors, curators etc. When certain skills are not available in the school, this may be bought elsewhere. Schools actively take the initiative to sort out the problems of migrant students (contact employment services, social benefits, local housing department etc.). All information about the student is stored in a digital programme (WILMA) that is used nationally. This means that each student can be tracked at all levels and in all regions (1 student card). WILMA can be used by teachers/schools, students and parents. 13. Deepening the GP and discussion 1. Good new or transferable ideas - Cooperation between language teacher and practical teacher / vocational training at authentic working places - Individual plans / programmes for each student - Integrated organization of special education - Freedom of teachers: o valma 6/8
o validation on the job o online teaching o flexibility o inclusion of all people - Learning at the work place - Online learning - The Valma concept - Personal approach - Putting the focus where it is needed - Life skills - 50% to VET, great! - One system (student card) - Individual arrangement - Teachers with passion! 2. Missing, boring or too trivial things - Not so many migrants => difficult to compare - We would like more info about the asylum process in every meeting You ll find info here http://migri.fi/en/asylum-in-finland - An introduction round for the new people would have been nice - More information about all the finance of Finnish education - Care after VET 3. Suggestions for Finland - Turn pilot project into regular practice - Work closely with your enemies (competition) - We learned a lot. Good activities, diversity and good breaks. - Being together in the evening was nice - Integration from day one would be good (for every country) more than 2-5 hours per week. - Losing the competition: be innovative! - Invite us back in 5 years. We are curious how your innovation will develop. Financing: The ministry of education determines how many students can enrol in a school. They take into account the previous years (2/3/4 years back) and estimate the need in different fields. Price-baskets: in different areas different prices per student are calculated. One student place brings in a certain amount of money to the school. Last year this was approximately 10.000. Different fields are valued with different percentages. For example, logistics is a very expensive field. Management decides how much money each department receives and it s up to the departments how they spend this amount of money. Valma is about 80% of 10.000. 7/8
Every department has their own English class, maths class, etc. They are trying to change this. The municipalities don t pay for education, the financing comes from the state, but there is an agreement between the municipalities that there is education in all the different municipalities. Asylum seekers: There are 6000 asylum seekers in Finland yearly. One third can stay. During the procedure they stay in refugee centres or in apartments if they can pay the rent. In Satakunta there are 700 asylum seekers waiting in refugee centres at the moment. They can apply three times. If you have a new reason to apply, you can apply a fourth time. I.e. when you have converted to Christianity you can start the procedure again. If you don t have a new reason you will be sent away after a week. There are two kinds of refugee centres: Red Cross and private centres. If asylum seekers cook their own meals, they receive a bit more money. All refugee centres have internet. The state wants asylum centres to be active. After three months they can start working, however, they rarely get jobs. Children up to 16 go to school right away. They go to preparatory courses when there are enough children to make a group (5 or 6 children is enough). Teachers of Finnish as a second language are going from school to school to teach the language to migrants. 8/8