One of the casualties of the war in Ukraine will be social rights and the recognition of racialized people in Finland. Are we witnessing more aggressive reporting as a result? Helsingin Sanomat published Wednesday a whole spread about how “over half of the students at several schools in Espoo don’t speak Finnish as their mother…
Tag: Finnish education system
How institutional racism entrenches at a Finnish school
How does institutional racism survive unchallenged at a Finnish school? An anonymous source got in touch with Migrant Tales and pointed out how structural or institutional racism survives at a Finnish school. One of the most crucial factors for its survival aren’t surveys and legal ineffective and false assurances against discrimination and racism but what…
Cultural diversity is still a challenge in the Finnish education system
An article in Yle News brings us back again to one of the biggest challenges for multilingual children at Finnish schools: How the Finnish education system treats cultural diversity. Language and cultural interpreter and early childhood educator Nadezda Kärmeniemi admitted that multilingual children are caught between differing attitudes at schools. She is saying that there…
Kotoutuminen* #6: The white Finnish teacher and the migrant adult child. Stop infantilizing!
Red lights should start flashing whenever a person teaching integration 101 to newly arrived migrants states: “These students are my children.” It is important to note, however, that there are many good and inspiring teachers who do wonders for their students and make them feel welcome. But for those who see their students as “children,”…
Far-right politician Huhtasaari and the PS pull one of the oldest tricks on the media
Anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* vice president, Laura Huhtasaari, hit the jackpot when she attacked a Finnish school project in Tampere for “encouraging hatred.” The poster made by teenage students pitted herself and the PS’ chairperson, Jussi Halla-aho, against President Sauli Niinistö and Green Alliance MP Pekka Haavisto with the following question: towards Finland, or towards death.
A letter to the Non-Discrimination Ombudsperson Kirsi Pimiä
Dear Kirsi,
I have written to PM Juha Sipilä twice concerning his ‘reluctance’ to publicly acknowledge racial discrimination in Finland (FRA EU MIDIS-II 2017 12.12.2017 meeting in Helsinki).
Why do some schools in Finland ask if a pupil is “a person of migrant origin?”
Sari Pöyhönen, who wrote in an op-ed piece in Helsingin Sanomat this week, asked why some schools in Finland ask parents if they are migrants, a person with a migrant origin, refugee, returnee, immigrant, temporarily in the country or asylum seeker. It is a good question considering that placing people into such groups is in general illegal in Finland.
Muhammed Shire and Johanna Ennser-Kananen: “Your Finnish is not good enough” and other myths migrants face on the job market
If you are a migrant who has applied for educational programs or jobs, chances are that you have heard some of the following myths. In this article, we debunk them by explaining their racist nature.