Transcript National programme to develop multicultural skills within general education 2007–2011 Head of Unit, PhD Leena Nissilä Finnish National Board of Education For education and learning.

National
programme to develop
multicultural skills within
general education
2007–2011
Head of Unit, PhD Leena Nissilä
Finnish National Board of Education
2012
For education and learning
Migrant Education in numbers
In Finland 5,3 million inhabitants
3-4 % , over 200 000 migrants
Biggest nationality groups: Russians, Estonians,
Swedes and Somalis
About 25 000 migrant pupils/students in general
education
Municipalities (342) are responsible of providing
pre-school and basic education, also to migrant
pupils – autonomous, they have to follow the law
and the national core curriculum
For education and learning
Preparatory instruction for basic
education
Local authorities can provide p.i.
NBE has drawn up the national core curriculum
State finances this instruction for one year with a
double state grant per pupil.
Target groups are children arriving in Finland at preprimary age (6 years) or at basic education age (716 years) – they should start p.i. as son as possible
after the arrival in the country.
Each pupil has an individual study plan to follow –>
integration to mainstream education (art, physical
education)
For education and learning
Preparatory instruction (suite)
Pupils study Finnish or Swedish, the main basic
education subjects and if possible their mother
tongue
Studing is organised in groups, no minimum size
A group is taught by one teacher who is helped by
an assistant
The challenge for the teacher is caused by
heterogenous groups (knowledge, age and
educational history).
For education and learning
Instruction of Finnish or Swedish as a
second language (L2)
NBE has drawn up a national core curriculum for L2
Local authorities are responsible of the instruction
Instruction is organized partly in a separate group
and partly together with native speakers.
State grants the municipality for L2-lessons the
teachers’ salary each group of four pupils (even for
two pupils)
L2-teachers are mainly the same than the ones of
mother tongue and litterature, but they have studied
extra L2-studies
Challange is the time-table of lessons
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Mother tongue instruction
In 71 municipalities 12 000 students and 52
languages
Biggest groups Russian, Somali, Albanian, Estonian
and Kurd
It is mandatory for the education providers to
arrange teaching of the mother tongue.
State: extra state funding, max 2 hours / week for a
group of min 4 pupils
Challenge: small migrant groups and rare mother
tongue: it is difficult to find competent teachers
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Instruction of Religion
Basic Education Act guarantees the instruction of
different religions in schools financed by
municipalities.
Parents may request the instruction of their religion
for minimun of 3 pupils.
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The scope of
multiculturalism development activities
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Promoting the underlying values of the National Core Curriculum
(human rights, equality, democracy, among others) and promoting
development and establishment of multicultural skills in school
communities.
Supporting
*the formation of pupils’ multicultural identity,
*participation in Finnish society and the globalising world; and
*the promotion of tolerance and intercultural understanding in school
communities.
Developing the multicultural skills of children and young people as
well as their parents and school staff in such a way as to promote the
abilities of the whole school community to learn and teach in a
multicultural learning environment.
For education and learning
Targets
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During the first year:
Drafting a municipal multicultural skills development
plan in interdisciplinary co-operation.
During the second and third years:
Mainstreaming the plan in the municipality’s school
community with the help of information and
training.
Multicultural skills refer to the skills of both
immigrants and the majority population in
encounters and activities with people belonging to
different linguistic and cultural groups.
For education and learning
The target groups of the activities
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Pre-primary education under the auspices of
municipal educational authorities
Basic education
General upper secondary education (since 2008)
Transition points in particular;
pre- to basic and basic to upper secondary
A total of 52 municipalities have participated
in the programme
For education and learning
07
*Espoo
Hamina
*Helsinki
Hämeenlinna
Iisalmi
Joensuu
Jyväskylä
Kajaani
Kirkkonummi
Kokkola
Kontiolahti
Kotka
Kuopio
Lahti
Lappeenranta
Mikkeli
*Oravainen
Oulu
Pyhtää
Raahe
Raisio
Savonlinna
Tampere
Vaasa
Vantaa
*=Finnish & Swedish
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08
Kemi
Kitee
Kouvola
Lumijoki
Oulainen
Porvoo
Rovaniemi
Sulkava
Turku
Uurainen
Ähtäri
09
Enonkoski
Imatra
Kauhajoki
Orimattila
Parikkala
Punkalaidun
Siikajoki
Tornio
Vihti
Vörå-Maxmo,
Swedish
Development activities must contain
measures for:
1. Organising immigrant education in municipalities/schools – preparatory,
Finnish/Swedish as a second language, own mother tongue, etc.;
co-operation within municipalities
2. Meeting pupils and their parents with versatile linguistic and cultural
backgrounds at school – information, solving problems
3. Promoting tolerance and good ethnic relations, increasing versatile
linguistic and cultural knowledge and particularly promoting relations
between cultural minorities and the majority culture within the school
community – information, integration, preventing discrimination
4. The formation of a multicultural identity for pupils with versatile linguistic
and cultural backgrounds – valuing cultures in all school subjects,
own language
5. Promoting the learning opportunities of different linguistic and cultural
groups and producing material – pedagogics taking the pupils’
background into consideration, cultural sensitivity, solving problems
6. Developing multicultural co-operation between home and school –
information, learning about the background culture, listening to
parents
For education and learning
Guidance documents
Multicultural skills development plan form
(MS Word format, available in Finnish and Swedish)
– present status, development plan, implementation and
monitoring
For education and learning
Requirements for receiving
special government grants
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Municipality’s/-ies’ and schools’ overall commitment to
development work and commitment to drafting, implementing
and mainstreaming a municipal (or sub-regional)
multicultural skills development plan,
The participation of the whole school community led by the
principal,
Setting up a steering group to steer operations within the
municipality or sub-region,
Setting up a multicultural skills development/co-operation
network to implement the programme within the municipality
or sub-region,
Results are to be evaluated and reported annually according
to instructions from the National Board of Education.
For education and learning
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Special government grants
can be used for:
Covering the costs of planning, implementation and
mainstreaming development activities (municipal plan),
Further developing and extending measures that promote and
mainstream multicultural skills of the whole school community,
Reimbursing costs for substitutes and travel resulting from
development activities; and
Covering the costs of work input by necessary personnel, such
as a person to steer or organise the work.
For education and learning
Special government grants
cannot be used for:
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Hiring new employees; nor
Such activities for which there already exist special government
grants or funds through a funding system (eg. international
activities, morning and afternoon activities, teaching Finnish as a
second language or teaching own mother tongue, instruction
preparing for basic education).
MATERIAL PRODUCED WITHIN THE PROGRAMME
IS FREE OF CHARGE!
The special government grant can be 5,000–40,000 euros per
municipality (in total: 3.3 M€ for 2007–2010) depending on
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the number of foreign language pre-school and school-aged children
and upper secondary school-aged young people in the municipality,
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the quality of planned development measures; and
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the number of municipalities applying for special government grants.
For education and learning
Examples of activities and results
taken from municipal reports
1
Municipalities have drafted multiculturalism plans
- a municipal interdisciplinary steering group has been set up;
people active in immigrant teaching have formed networks
- awareness of challenges in immigrant teaching has increased
-> allocation of resources
2.
The Core Curriculum has been updated on a municipal level.
3
Regional co-operation has increased, regional networks (6)
4
In-service training for teachers, principals and co-ordinators
*A contact teacher at every school
*Consultant teachers
5
Co-operation between home and school
- (functional) parent-teacher meetings and parent education in
different languages, parents’ associations
6.
Production and translation of information material
For education and learning
Examples of activities and results taken from
municipal reports, cont.
7. Increasing cultural awareness, theme days and theme week
8. Copying and disseminating best practices - regional co-operation
9. Support activities; peer support and peer families, buddy pupils,
trainees, exchange students, after-school clubs, summer
camps
10. Co-operation with the third sector, NGOs, such as the
Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, the Finnish Red Cross,
the Family Federation, Immigration Office, social and health
services, youth services
The special government grant has acted as a catalyst; it has
enabled various immigrant education measures.
”Extremely important.”
For education and learning
Other activities
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Reporting to the National Board of Education
Publication: ”Multicultural school community”
Publication: ”Towards a multicultural through art”
Multicultural brochure (Finnish, Swedish and
English)
Steering visits to municipalities
National steering group
Evaluation of multiculturality (28 municipalities) by
NetEffect Oy
National Board of Education website www.edu.fi
For education and learning
DVDs produced in Vantaa
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For education and learning
It’s time for the ABC – information for pupils in
the first class
- The DVD presents daily activities at school and
provides information for future pupils and their
parents
- 24 minutes, in Finnish, English, Turkish, Russian
and Somali
When the child needs more support - special
education and other special services
- 24 minutes, in Finnish, English, Turkish, Russian
and Somali
- www.edu.vantaa.fi/lansimaki
Information about basic education
in 8 languages - Kajaani
- 14 video clips of 0.5-2 minutes (total 12.5 minutes) presenting Finnish basic
education in 8 languages (Finnish, Arabic, English, Persian, French, Somali,
Russian and Kurdish).
- The material is mainly aimed at pupils and their parents belonging to different
language groups.
The themes:
- comprehensive school, compulsory education, preparatory instruction, school
supplies, the way to and from school, the school day, school subjects, meals,
recess, the school year
-co-operation between home and school, what are the responsibilities of the
home, teaching of own mother tongue, religion and ethics and philosophy of life
as school subjects
->
http://kajaanimcl.info/wordpress/
For education and learning
”The little ones’ language backpack”
- Joint project of Finnish educational services and early childhood education services in
Espoo.
- Common evaluation criteria for monitoring development of language skills applying the
European framework into Finnish as a second language in early childhood education as
well as in pre-primary and early basic education.
- Use of common criteria makes it easier for day care centres to help children get the
support most suitable for them in pre-primary and early basic education.
The project has produced evaluation material containing:
www.espoo.fi/kielireppu
Meal pack – a guardian’s description of the child’s language background
Linguistic compass – an assessment of the child’s competence in their own mother
tongue by the child and the teacher of their own mother tongue. The linguistic compass
applies to pupils at school participating in instruction in their own mother tongue. It is the
mother tongue teacher’s responsibility to fill in the form. The language and culture groupspecific educational authorities disseminate the forms to teachers and send the completed
forms to appropriate schools.
Follow-up form containing a skills profile of speaking and listening
Pictorial pack – assesment material for monitoring development of interaction.
For education and learning
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Ms. Leena Nissilä
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Head of Unit, Counsellor of Education

Finnish National Board of Education
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tel. +358 40 348 7705
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e-mail: [email protected]
Ms. Pirjo Immonen-Oikkonen

Counsellor of Education

Finnish National Board of Education
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tel. +358 40 348 7821
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e-mail: [email protected]
For education and learning