Integration is a two-way street: readiness is required from both students and schools
Multilingualism in schools has presented new challenges for the planning of teaching. In Uusimaa, for example, already one in four of comprehensive school students speaks something other than Finnish and Swedish as their mother tongue.
Language-aware teaching was added to the curriculum of comprehensive schools in 2014. In a nutshell, the concept means understanding that all learning takes place through language. If the student is not proficient in the language of instruction, they will not be able to understand the taught subjects fully. Language-aware teaching develops the linguistic and academic skills of all students, but it is especially benefial to multilingual students.
“Language-aware teaching makes languages visible in different school subjects as well as in learning study skills and building social relationships,” says Mirja Tarnanen, professor of language education from the Department of Teacher Education at the Ģֱ. “School is so much more than studying different school subjects.”
First step towards integration
To ensure that children or adolescents from different language backgrounds can participate in Finnish comprehensive education with adequate skills, they are provided with a year-long integration programme of preparatory education. Preparatory education is intended for all children and adolescents of pre-primary and comprehensive education age with a migrant background who lack sufficient language skills to participate in pre-primary or comprehensive education.
It is anticipated that around 10,000 children and adolescents will participate in preparatory education in Finland in 2025. Children and adolescents with an immigrant background born in Finland and those newly arrived to the country can participate in the education.
Preparatory education is the first step towards the students’ integration into the Finnish school system.
“As the name suggests, preparatory teaching is meant to ‘prepare’ students – it does not mean the students are ‘ready’ after just one single academic year, as we would often like to think,” explains Tarnanen.
“The education provides them with new capabilities to study in a Finnish school, but the actual intergration process continues long after the preparatory education has ended.”
The research project, led by Tarnanen and funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, aims to explore how newly arrived students can be fully supported in their intergration into the school community.
“Our goal is to develop a pedagogical assessment tool to enable a seamless transition from preparatory education to comprehensive education,” says Tarnanen.
“We will look at, for example, the type of language-related support students need when they transition from prepatory education to lower secondary education and how students adjust to school during the preparatory education. In addition, the project sheds new light on what kind of working and management culture in schools supports the integration of students with an immigrant background.”
Transition to lower secondary education can cause feelings of uncertainty
Integration into a school community – and through it, into society – requires the community’s preparedness in addition to the child’s and adolescent’s own abilities.
“We know that many adolescents with a migrant background face bullying and social isolation in schools,” explains Tarnanen. “Therefore, we should seek to understand what it is like to start at a new school after immigrating to a foreign country.”
In many schools, students are integrated into general education groups already during preparatory teaching, while promoting the formation of friendships and encouraging collaboration with parents.
According to Tarnanen, it is essential that the school also adapts to the students with migrant backgrounds. To better support integration of students, some of the operational structures of schools should also be reformed. This is called two-way integration.
“One possible area for reforming school structures relates to the relationship between teachers and students,” says Tarnanen. “In preparatory teaching, adolescents have usually had their own teacher – an adult they are familiar with and can feel safe around. However, when students transition to lower secondary education, they will have several teachers, that is, a different teacher for each school subject. An adolescent may not feel recognised or receive enough support for learning or becoming part of the group.
“Currently, more collaboration amongst school staff is needed. Increasing collaboration would support the integration process.”
New educational initiative supports the promotion of diversity in schools
In addition to reforming the existing structures, Professor Tarnanen sees potential for improvement in the diversity of teachers: it would be good to have teachers from different backgrounds in schools.
When a child or adolescent meets a teacher from a similar background in kindergarten or school, it strengthens their sense of participation and belonging. This would be highly beneficial for integrated students as well as students from culturally diverse backgrounds.
The new education initiative by the Ģֱ also supports increasing diversity.
In the joint application process during spring 2026, applicants from the Ģֱ with Finnish as a second language background can apply for programmes in classroom teacher training, early childhood education, and social work.
The planning and implementation of language and cultural studies at the Ģֱ is part of a strategic development project funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
