On the 1st of March I partecipated in the webinar about the safety competence in which I had the possibility to actively partecipate by presenting the work done with Pilar and Yuhua.
It has been a mix of different emotions because I had some initial difficulties in understanding how to set up the work or what to focus on for the presentation. Pilar and Yuhua were excellent group mates because they guided me through my first webinar and in his organization by explaining me what I didn't understand and by answering all the questions I had. They made the organization very simple and pleasant and I'm very thankful for this!
On the day of the webinar I was a little stressed because I could feel the pression of my presentation and I wanted everything to be fine for me and for the whole group because of the hard work made togheter.
Today I can say I am happy and satisfied of what I've learned and of the experience made.
The previous images describe thr case that was assigned to me, Pilar and Yuhua by Kimmo and Riikka. It is a bachelor's class in Health Care - Nursing in its second year of studies and it's a multicultural group. There have been some cultural, social and linguistic difficulties, but there are also some problems about the well being of the students because some of them suffer from homesickness, stress and someone is also subject to racist acts.
Me, Yuhua and Pilar had to study this case and try to recognize all the possible risks, trying to find some viable solutions by doing a research also on the laws.
Legislation
Regarding the legislation, we focused on the laws that aim at equality and equal opportunities plan.
Teachers must be aware of the laws in order to be ready and efficient in case of necessity. They have to know the student care plan and then create lessons that are accessible to all, minding the physical, psychological, social and legal safety of each person. Every student has to feel welcome and safe while in class, even because this let each student to feel supported during the studies.
For this reason it's essential that every teacher knows the laws and that he uses them as a daily reference to do his job in the best possible way.
Risk analysis and mitigation actions
We tried to recognize all the possible risks and we divided them into different categories: pedagogical, psychological, social and physical safety. We also tried to think about the possible actions we could do to mitigate these risks.
Pedagogical safety
About the pedagogical safety, we found the language barrier as a high risk and we think that the right actions to do are making course English - Finnish with practice, doing peer to peer work and providing multilanguage material to help people with the language. It might be easier to work and study with someone rather than do it alone.
To mitigate the low academic performance and the lack of learning skills we thought about counselling and academic support. And we also thought about the lack of digital skills and group dynamics and we tried to mitigate it with complementary studies on digital skills and studies in soft skills building to help people to handle the blended mode.
But we also thought about the teachers’ points of view: teachers have to be aware of the students’ welfare plans, the personal study plan and the institutional procedures to support students in order to ensure the best teaching possible. The risks we discussed about could come from the teachers as well, so teachers must be prepared to face this.
Psychological safety
Regarding
psychological safety we found three main risks: mild depression (two people are diagnosed), homesickness, isolation and feeling alone and stress/
anxiety. Stress and anxiety are high risk because it could be very challenging
to handle a foreigner situation. We agree that teachers must ask for help to a
team of experts, coordinating the work with the welfare services.
Teachers
can’t handle the psychological safety alone because they are not prepared for
this and it’s also something to take seriously for the well being of the
students. We also thought about creating a support group doing activities that
aim to create a network between people, to help students to not feel alone and
isolated.
Social safety
We have
identified three main risks: racism and again the language barrier, the lack of
network and community support / cultural barriers / work introduction and
bullying.
In order to fight
racism and to help with the language barrier we thought about psychological
support and the institutional plan against racism actions as it’s a very high
risk and something to take very seriously and again teachers can’t handle it
alone.
While talking about the lack of community support, cultural barriers and
work life introduction we think it’s important to ask for some help to a team
of experts. These students are going to work and live in a foreigner country
and they need help to adapt in the new environment. So the problem is not only the
language but it’s also the different culture and way of living in which they
have to fit in.
Physical safety
Then we can
focus on the physical safety. We found as main risk the knowledge of
institutional safety procedures for students by the teachers. They have to be
ready in case of any danger and they must ensure a safety environment also on
accessibility.
General safety considerations
Finally, we found two main risks to be aware of that are transversal and that are very important. Teachers must be aware of the possibility of drop out and the lack of communication skills and socio emotional learning.
In order to limit these risks we agreed on working on the personal study plan and the institutional plans on welfare, equity and equality. We also think it’s important to collaborate with a team of experts to monitor the situation. We think it’s important to support the students that face a different culture and the life in a different country.
Teacher and pedagogical approach
Teachers must promote effective interactions among students and between teachers and students, but they also have to commit to creating a community of students that can work well togheter and in which everyone helps each other. Working this way it will be possible to achieve the necessary skills.
Final activity
https://padlet.com/marysanguineti/activity-sps7matwmcex4p31
At the end of the presentation we proposed an activity in order to have a comparison on our work and to know new and different points of view. We asked if there were any experiences similar to the case we have analyzed and if there were any aspects to consider that we had not taken into account.
We collected many useful and interesting experiences and suggestions.
I understood that it's always better to collect information before starting the lessons in order to try to help in the best possible way since the very first day.
It was suggested to do a survey to understand the necessities that students have in order to promote inclusiveness and I think this is a very useful advice to avoid taking something for granted and to get in touch with the students right away, creating a bond in which they can feel safe.
Sources
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https://www.oamk.fi/emateriaalit/osaamisen-kehittaminen/turvallisuusosaaminen/lait-ja-dokumentit
https://www.oamk.fi/emateriaalit/osaamisen-kehittaminen/turvallisuusosaaminen/lait-ja-dokumentit/
https://oamk.fi/oamkjournal/2021/pedagoginen-hyvinvointi-voimaannuttaa-ja-osallistaa-opettajan-ja-opiskelijan/
Renfors, S. M. (2021). Internationalization of the curriculum in Finnish higher education: Understanding lecturers’ experiences. Journal of Studies in International Education, 25(1), 66-82.
Blended learning in Finland. https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/158389/blended_learning_Finland.pdf?sequence=1
Original publication http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-784-834-3
https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/agency-projects/RaisingAchievement/CountryReports/Raising%20Achievement%20Finland%20Country%20Report.pdf
https://www.salto-youth.net/downloads/4-17-3141/InclusionAtoZ.pdf
Ebuenyi, I., Rottenburg, E., Bunders-Aelen, J. & Reeger, B. (2020). Challenges of inclusion: a qualitative study exploring barriers and pathways to inclusion of persons with mental disabilities in technical and vocational education and training programmes in East Africa. Disability and rehabilitation, 42(4), 536-544. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2018.1503729
Eskola, S., Metsola, L., Miettinen, K., Piha, L., Rahikkala, M-L & Ruuskanen, U. (2007). Kaikille yhteiseen ammatilliseen oppilaitokseen. Puheenvuoroja esteettömyydestä jasaavutettavuudesta. Publications of the Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities M7, 2007
Takala, M., Lakkala, S & Äikäs, A. (2020). Inklusiivisen kasvatuksen monet mahdollisuudet. From Takala, M., Äikäs, A. & Lakkala, S. (ed.) Mahdoton inkluusio? Tunnista haasteet ja
mahdollisuudet. PS-kustannus.
Vitka, T. (2021). Laaja-alaisen erityisopetuksen käsikirja. PS-kustannus
All the photos in the article were taken from our presentation's slides.
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