Background

The number of students with a foreign language background has increased rapidly in the social and health care sector, affecting the availability of placement opportunities and supervision resources. Supervisors’ language‑ and culturally responsive supervision competence varies, and supervision responsibilities are often concentrated on the same individuals. Challenges have been identified in client‑ and patient‑safe communication and information flow. These factors impact supervisors’ workload as well as students’ ability to achieve learning objectives and progress in their studies. In addition, challenges related to placements affect the employability, workplace integration and regional retention of students with a foreign language background. There is a clear need to strengthen regional and national cooperation in the development of placements for foreign‑language social and health care students, as well as to create and establish a national operating model for placements. The ProHarkka Southern Finland project operates as part of the national ProHarkka consortium, consisting of five regional projects and coordinates national cooperation within the overall programme.

Aims

The aims of the ProHarkka Southern Finland project are to:

1. develop and strengthen language‑ and culturally responsive supervision competence in social and health care organizations.
2. develop and establish regional and national placement models that support the learning, successful completion of placements and integration into working life of social and health care students with a foreign language background.
3. strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions, wellbeing services counties and other providers of social and health care services through expert networks.

Outcomes

Tailored training programmes based on the needs of project partners strengthen supervisors’ language‑ and culturally responsive supervision competence. In addition, the project produces open educational materials that can be used both in educational institutions and in workplace settings. A nationally unified placement model is established and published in the project’s final publication. The networks for supervising students with a foreign language background created during the project will continue development work after the project has ended.